Dare County reports 2,206 people on Vaccine Waiting List; School personnel can register for vaccine starting Feb. 24

Dare County released the following update for Tuesday, February 23, which provides details on recent Coronavirus cases, current and future vaccine allotments, and more COVID-19 information.

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

We are pleased to report Dare County’s COVID-19 data continues to trend in the right direction. Specifically, there were only 37 new positive cases last week. This is the lowest it has been since the beginning of October. Additionally, the percent of positive tests to total tests for this past week decreased from 10.9% to 8.2%. While these numbers are looking much better, we still need to remain vigilant. Please continue to do what we know works to control the spread by following the 3Ws: Wear a face covering, wait 6 ft apart and wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer.

Since our last report on 2/16, there have been 41 new COVID-19 cases. Of these 41 new cases:

• 28 (68%) are symptomatic
• 32 (78%) acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual or individuals who were positive for COVID-19.

The total COVID-19 positive case count in Dare County is 2756, of which there are 46 active cases among residents of Dare County. Currently, 8 residents are hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19. Sadly, 1 resident death was reported last week. Our thoughts are with the family and friends who have lost their loved one.

COVID-19 Vaccine

We were speechless last Thursday when we were informed that the state was going to provide us with 100 of the 3,000 doses requested for our Mega Vaccine Event. We will continue to advocate for more doses as we stand prepared to vaccinate approximately 3,000 individuals per week when the vaccine allotment increases. For the next 3 weeks, we will receive a standard allocation from the state of 500 first doses per week. This week we will provide 600 first doses since we received the extra 100 doses from our event request.

We continue to ask for everyone’s patience with the vaccine roll out. Our ability to vaccinate everyone who wishes to be vaccinated is completely dependent on our vaccine allocation from the state.  Over the past 7 weeks we have administered 7,798 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Dare County and 4,521 second doses.

The limited vaccine allotment is only related to first doses. We have not been informed that there are any issues with second dose allotments. All second dose appointments remain as scheduled.

There are currently 2,206 individuals aged 65 and over on our vaccine waiting list. Starting on February 24th, in accordance with the state’s vaccination prioritization phases, we will begin accepting registrations for school and day care personnel. All eligible individuals who register for the vaccine are placed on the waiting list in order of when they registered. For anyone who has completed a registration form online and no longer needs an appointment, please email us at covid19@darenc.com to remove your name from the waiting list. This will help us be as efficient as possible when calling people to schedule appointments.

Information on COVID-19 vaccinations in Dare County can be found at www.darenc.com/covidvaccine.  General information on the COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the state’s website www.covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines.

We have been informed by the state that the Walgreens locations in Dare County are participating in the federal COVID-19 vaccination program and have started receiving a limited number of doses weekly. The vaccines provided to Walgreens are not part of the state’s allocations. Please go to www.walgreens.com for more information on their COVID-19 vaccine program.

Key Metrics

Each week we review the 4 key metrics associated with disease investigation and surveillance. The metrics are:

• Number of Tests
• Confirmed Cases
• Positive Tests as a Percent of Total Tests
• COVID Like Illness Surveillance

This past week there were 451 COVID-19 diagnostic tests reported in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March to 33,237.  There were 37 positive cases between February 15 and February 21. The percent of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in early March decreased to 8.27%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week decreased to 8.20%. Syndromic surveillance of individuals presenting with COVID like symptoms to the emergency department and urgent care centers, showed low levels of activity. These graphs can be found on the dare county website at www.darenc.com/covid19.

Communications and Information Sharing

Dare County DHHS has an established schedule of communication to share information regarding COVID-19. Every Tuesday, a written update and a video update which includes an overview of the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics is issued. Additional updates will be released as needed. All released videos and written updates can be found on our website, DHHS facebook page, Dare County Twitter page, and Dare Emergency Management Twitter page. If you would like to receive these updates directly to your email, please sign up to receive our enotifications.

New positive cases are updated on the dashboard on our website and shared on the DHHS facebook page when we receive them. To find the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 cases in Dare County visit www.darenc.com/covid19. State COVID-19 data is available at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.

Contact Us

We encourage you to stay informed by visiting www.darenc.com/covid19 or by visiting the CDC or NC DHHS websites. If you have specific needs or questions you may also call the Dare County COVID-19 call center open Monday-Friday from 8:30 to 5:00 at 252-475-5008.