Dare County to hold Back to School Vaccine Clinics in Buxton, Nags Head, per Tuesday update

July 27, 2021 | Local News

Dare County released the following update for Tuesday, July 27, which provides details on recent Coronavirus cases, vaccine data, and more COVID-19 information.

Back to School Vaccine Clinics

Dare County Department of Health and Human Services will be offering two COVID-19 vaccination clinics (and the corresponding second dose clinics) prior to the start of the school year. These clinics will provide the Pfizer vaccine and are for anyone in need of a vaccine who is 12 years of age and over. In addition to preventing serious illness and death, current CDC and NC DHHS guidance states that individuals who are fully vaccinated are not required to quarantine if they are exposed to a person who tests positive for COVID-19, as long as the vaccinated individual remains symptom free. To register for a vaccine appointment please visit our website at www.darenc.com/covidvaccine to complete the vaccination request form. Staff will then call you to schedule an appointment. The upcoming clinic dates are:

Thursday, July 29th from 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. in Buxton
Friday, July 30th from 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. in Nags Head

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

Dare County continues to see an increase in COVID-19 infections. The total number of new positive cases reported in Dare County over the past week was 83. Of these 83 new cases:

63 (76%) are symptomatic
48 (58%) acquired the virus by direct contact with unvaccinated individuals who were positive for COVID-19.
26 (31%) do not know how they acquired the virus
22 were breakthrough cases (5 had J&J vaccine; 11 had Moderna, 6 had Pfizer).

Currently, there are 59 active COVID-19 cases among residents of Dare County. One resident is hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19.

Dare County is experiencing an elevated level of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Dare is in the red category on the CDC’s Level of Community Transmission map. Red indicates a high level of community transmission of the virus. Ther percent of positive COVID-19 tests to total COVID-19 tests in Dare County last week was 13.0%.

Breakthrough Cases

When an individual tests positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks after receiving the final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine that is considered a breakthrough case. Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19. According to the CDC, there is evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick.

Since the week of April 12th when the first breakthrough case was reported, there have been 481 positive cases of COVID-19 reported in Dare County with 50 of those cases being identified as breakthrough cases. Of the 50 breakthrough cases:

41 residents and 9 non-residents
16 had the J&J vaccine
21 had the Moderna vaccine
13 had the Pfizer vaccine
Most had mild symptoms; several were asymptomatic; 0 hospitalizations

The whole numbers provided above are for informational purposes and not an indication of effectiveness of one vaccine compared to the others. Of note, the Moderna vaccine has been the predominant vaccine administered by Dare DHHS. The breakdown of the COVID 19 vaccines administered by Dare DHHS are: 5% J&J, 24% Pfizer and 71% Moderna.

The FDA and CDC are evaluating whether booster or additional doses of the COVID vaccine would provide additional protection. At this time booster doses are not being encouraged or recommended. We will update the public if that guidance changes.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

NC DHHS epidemiological data indicates the state and Dare County are at the beginning of another surge of COVID-19 infections. The Delta variant is believed to be prevalent in Dare County. The CDC and NC DHHS indicate it is a significantly more contagious variant. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19. People who are vaccinated are far less likely to get infected with COVID-19 than those who are not vaccinated. Based on self-reports during contact tracing interviews, in the low percentage of breakthrough cases, individuals who are vaccinated are experiencing mild to no symptoms.

In addition to getting vaccinated, other ways you can protect yourself and your family include limiting prolonged direct contact with unvaccinated individuals who do not live in your household, wearing a mask when in large crowds, especially indoors, and washing your hands frequently with soap and water or using hand sanitizer.

A number of area businesses and organizations are requiring face coverings to protect their employees and patrons during this period of elevated COVID-19 infections. A business has the legal authority to require a face covering if they so choose. While masks are currently not required under a NC Executive Order, NC DHHS guidance states that people who are not vaccinated should wear a mask and maintain distance in all indoor public settings and in outdoor settings when they can’t maintain six feet of distance. Given the high level of community transmission in Dare County, at this time vaccinated individuals may also want to wear a mask when they are gathered among unvaccinated individuals or in an environment where vaccination status is unknown.

COVID Vaccinations in Dare

All individuals 12 years of age and over are encouraged to get the COVID-19 vaccination. COVID-19 vaccinations are readily available at numerous locations throughout the county including the health department and many area pharmacies like: Walgreens, CVS, Sunshine Family Pharmacy, Island Pharmacy, Bear Drugs, and Beach Pharmacy.

Since late December 2020, a total of 23,443 (63%) of eligible Dare County residents have received an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 22,420 (61%) are fully vaccinated.

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 634 COVID-19 diagnostic tests reported in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March of last year to 42,863. There were 83 positive cases between July 19 and July 25. The percentage of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in March 2020 is 8.0%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week increased to 13.0%. Syndromic surveillance of individuals presenting with COVID like symptoms to the emergency department and urgent care centers showed an increase in 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 which includes 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 and on our website and shared on the DHHS facebook page each Tuesday. 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.