County Mayor Jim Coppinger
photo by Joseph Dycus
Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes and County Mayor Jim Coppinger said Thursday they see a welcome trend in fewer COVID-19 cases in Hamilton County.
“Our numbers have gone down as it concerns active cases. We’re down to almost 2,000 cases, as are our hospitalization and ICU cases down,” County Mayor Coppinger said. “The testing continues and we are very active, and those numbers and the positivity rate has gone from 20 percent to around 13 percent.”
He thanked citizens who have followed precautions such as wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding large gatherings.
He also addressed the call center. He said vaccines came in today, and he said the county will give out the link and phone number (423-209-5398) for those who want first doses.
“If you get a busy signal, we encourage you to keep calling,” County Mayor Coppinger said. “We can’t do anything about the busy signals, and once you get a recording saying that all of the appointments are taken, then they’re taken. We ask for your patience.”
He asked for people to schedule only appointments for themselves, and to not schedule appointments for other people or multiple appointments. He said the county had to make over 300 phone calls to match up with the number of times people called in this week.
County Mayor Coppinger said Riverfront Parkway and the CARTA bus barn on Wilcox are both being used as places to distribute the vaccine. He asked citizens who do have an appointment to be in line at least 15 minutes early.
“The Enterprise South site has been set up, and this will be an alternative site in the event we get more vaccine,” the county mayor said. “Our goal is to get as many vaccines as we can from the state, and the state has to get it from the federal government.”
Ms. Barnes said the Health Department has given out 10,139 first dose vaccinations and 3,021 second vaccinations. She said other community partners have given out the vaccines that haven’t been reported.
“Our goal is to give out the vaccine as quickly as we can, and our goal is to give the second doses as quickly as they’re due,” Ms. Barnes said. “We’re now averaging about 500 tests a day, instead of 1,000 like a few weeks ago.”
She said testing has been cut back to six days a week in order to redirect staff to focus on vaccination efforts. However, Ms. Barnes said partners will begin testing on Sunday.
Ms. Barnes also answered a question about reporting the number of COVID-related deaths. She said the health department gets this information from a number of sources, and said there can be a “lag” in getting that report.
“We report that number as quickly as we get it, but the date that person died is certainly not that day,” Ms. Barnes said. “So we go back on our website and we post the date on the appropriate week.”
Ms. Barnes emphasized the importance of people coming back for a second dose. She said 10 to 14 days after the second dose is when people reach “optimum protection.” She said the county has offered more appointments than people who have been vaccinated, in order to give returning people choices for when they get the second dose.
The administrator said in Hamilton County, many residents over 75 want the vaccine, which is why the phase has not changed. She said when the first-dose appointments begin to stay unfilled, then more phases will be opened up.
“The really good news for us is that people in Hamilton County want to be vaccinated, because that’s how we ultimately end this pandemic.”
She said the Health Department has published a vaccination dashboard with information on vaccination numbers. Ms. Barnes said the department hopes to make the dashboard “more prominent” in the future.