Winter weather could cause delivery delay
The e ort to get the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of more local people may be hampered because of winter weather across the nation.
A large-scale vaccination clinic scheduled Saturday at Tri-County Community College is in limbo because winter storms are delaying vaccine deliveries.
The day-long clinic has been in the planning stages a few weeks. It is a joint effort among Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties. If all goes as planned, Clay County residents will be scheduled for vaccines from 2-4 p.m. at the college campus.
Clay County Health Director Clarissa Rogers said Wednesday morning there’s a possibility the clinic will not happen, but as of press-time she could not con- rm either way, pending a conference call with officials Wednesday afternoon.
“I know for sure we aren’t getting any [vaccines] for this week’s first doses, but we may get some for Saturday,” Rogers said.
The health department is scheduling vaccine appointments based on their active waiting list already in place. Rogers said residents can call 389-8052 to get on the waiting list.
Check for updates about the clinic and county COVID statistics on the health department’s Facebook page.
In the meantime, Clay County has not reported any new COVID-related deaths recently. The death toll re- mains at 20.
Several of those deaths occurred during an outbreak at Clay County Care Center in which 36 staff members and 56 residents tested positive.
On Feb. 9, the health department reported there are now no active positive cases within the Care Center and they are continuing to monitor the situation.
The Feb. 16 county-wide COVID report shows 44 active cases with 139 results pending.
Since reporting of the pandemic began, the county has recorded 669 positive cases with 625 of those recovered, according to the health department. Nearly 4,100 residents have been tested in Clay County.
Across North Carolina, 10,562 deaths have been reported out of 826,340 cases.