The Henderson County Health Department reported 92 Covid-19 related deaths since the first coronavirus death last March. Of the 1,563 deaths, the coronavirus accounted for 6 percent of the total or one death in seventeen. According to a recent CDC report, in 94 percent of Covid-19 deaths, an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, respiratory failure or cardiac arrest was a contributing factor. While I was pulling death figures, I looked at the average number of deaths in the county for the past three years (1,525 per year) and compared that to the comparable number of births (916). At the rate of 609 more deaths than births each year one can surmise that eventually there would be no one left alive in the county. But we of course have the in-migration factor. So although more residents are passing away than new ones being born, our county still grows at the annual clip of 1.3 percent. That’s more “little pink houses for you and me.”
Officials plan for Group 3 as Walgreens starts COVID-19 vaccinations
Local health departments are working to plan the next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations after Gov. Roy Cooper announced teachers and other school staff will be prioritized before the rest of frontline workers.
Cooper announced Feb. 10 that state residents in Group 3 can start getting the vaccine Feb. 24, starting with anyone working in child care or in PreK-12 schools, followed by all other frontline workers March 10.
Teachers cheered the move, but local health departments are still figuring out how to make that prioritization happen, and wondering if a separate dose allocation will be made to accommodate it, with almost 50,000 people on Buncombe s waitlist, and nearly 16,000 on Henderson County s list.
Here s how to contact vaccine providers in Henderson County
As of the past week, the Henderson County Department of Public Health, Pardee UNC Health Care, AdventHealth Hendersonville and Blue Ridge Health are the only providers in Henderson County holding mass vaccination clinics for the general public.
All available COVID-19 vaccination appointments with each provider quickly book up. You may be unable to book an appointment online or over the phone if appointments are all filled, so the public is encouraged to check back with providers frequently.
Local call centers are flooded with thousands of calls to fill just hundreds of appointments. Distributors in Henderson County have to count on the state for all allotments and are given short notice on updated supplies.
Earlier coverage:
When the Henderson County Department of Public Health began scheduling appointments for the Covid-19 vaccinattion a week ago, it had 1,000 appointments available. All were booked within the seven hours the call center was open.
On Jan. 13 the call center received approximately 19,000 telephone calls for 600 appointments that were still available. With calls overwhelming the phone system, the Health Department expanded the call system on Monday. Henderson County obligates all vaccines within the first 48 hours of receiving them. On Wednesday, Jan. 20, with a new supply of doses in hand and the enhanced call system in place, the Department of Public Health will again begin booking approximately 700 appointments. The call volume is expected to be heavy.
Responding to an inquiry from the
Hendersonville Lightning, Andrew Mundhenk, the Health Department s communications manager, described the urgent work devoted to the current surge in cases and the planning and management of the county s Covid vaccination campaign as higher priorities. We are prioritizing Covid-19 vaccine distribution and overall response to the current surge in cases at the moment, he said in a text message responding to th
Lightning s questions. We are officially sunsetting the dashboard for the prior reasons explained. We’re shifting resources to the vaccination campaign but will make links available to NCDHHS data on our website. Case investigation, case management, contact tracing and now vaccine administration has reduced the capacity of HCDPH staff to support the Henderson County Dashboard, the department said in a news release released after the Lightning s questions about the website.