61 new cases of COVID-19 were counted on Friday according to the Alexander County Health Department !
Alexander County’s positivity rate is 15.2 percent compared to the state average of 12.1.
At this time the Alexander County Health Department is scheduling appointments for the Pfizer vaccine for persons age 12 and older and the Moderna vaccine for persons age 18 and older. To register for a vaccine appointment at our office, visit https://alexandercountync.gov/covid/ or call 828-632-9704.
Alexander County Public Health is also providing third-doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to fully vaccinated persons who are moderately to severely immunocompromised according to CDC guidelines. For those who are interested in a booster and are not immunocompromised, the current indication is that those may begin sometime in the fall and that patients could become eligible on/after the 8-month anniversary of their second vaccine dose.
Of the three area hospitals that are reporting data, approximately 35 percent of all patients have COVID-19 and associated complications. Almost 25 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 at these three hospitals are on a ventilator. Two of the three hospitals reported that 87 percent of their COVID patients are unvaccinated.
It is also important to note that sections of emergency departments are being utilized as hospital rooms to accommodate the overflow of patients; therefore, emergency visits for other health problems are experiencing longer wait times.
In addition to a shortage of critical care and intensive care beds, the hospitals are also experiencing staff shortages which is causing even more difficulty in getting patients admitted for care.
The vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, and at the very least, prevents severe symptoms or hospitalization for someone who is vaccinated but contracts COVID-19.