Murphy – As Cherokee County reports three deaths from COVID-19 in one week, Health Director David Badger said it’s not enough to infer anything causing a potential increase in deaths.
He hopes the county can help put a stop to those numbers Saturday, when the health department is planning to hold a clinic using the Johnson & Johnson one-dose COVID-19 vaccine. All local residents ages 18 and older are eligible. Call 837-7486 or go online to novelhealth.ai/practice/cherokee-county-health-department-287668 to schedule an appointment.
Badger said the recent pause in administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine nationwide had little effect on vaccine administration in Cherokee County, with the exception of canceling a clinic planned for April 17. The vaccine was suspended on April 13 after six women who took the vaccine developed a rare blood clot, but none of those incidents took place in North Carolina and the vaccine has since been declared safe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
The Cherokee County Health Department confirmed the deaths over the last week, putting the local total at 36 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Badger said he couldn’t see any particular reason why three deaths from the virus were reported in a single week.
“I can’t draw any inferences from it,” he said.
Badger also said he didn’t feel like there would be much local effect from Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to further loosen restrictions. Cooper announced plans to remove all social distancing, capacity and mass-gathering restrictions as of June 1, citing increases in the number of people vaccinated and other ongoing work to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“At this point I think people are probably going to do what they’re going to do day in and day out, and I’m sure even after June 1 that there will still be people who feel more comfortable wearing a mask.
“More power to them, and there’s still going to be people that aren’t going to wear a mask, and they weren’t going to wear them when the restrictions were in place,” he said.
Badger also expressed concerns regarding low numbers of people taking the COVID-19 vaccine in Cherokee County. According to the N.C. Department of Health & Human Services, 48 percent of state residents ages 18 and older have been at least partially vaccinated, while 37 percent have been fully vaccinated. There have been 6,775,606 total vaccine doses administered statewide so far.
However, in Cherokee County only 24 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, with 27 percent having taken their first dose.
“I think certain populations, the older, 65 plus, I think it’s much higher in that population group, but we’re seeing a lot of vaccine hesitancy right now, so that would be overall , regardless of lifting the mask mandates or not, that’s certainly concerning that people aren’t taking the opportunities to get the vaccine,” Badger said.
He spoke to a need for more education on the vaccine locally.
“It’s an individual decision, and I think everybody respects that, but I think at some point we all have to be kind of a part of the solution,” Badger said.
He said the health department was continuing to get the word out into the community about the vaccine, emphasizing that anyone ages 18 and older could receive the Moderna vaccine, and there are plenty of appointments available.
“It’s just around educating and trying to provide people with factual information when they bring that up, and kind of looking at ways of partnering with regional entries about continuing to get more factual information out about the vaccines for people to make informed decisions,” Badger said.
“I think a lot of it will just take time,” he added.
The health department emphasizes that anyone who becomes ill with a respiratory-type illness to isolate until the following criteria are met:
u At least 24 hours have passed since recovery defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath);
u At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
Symptoms for COVID-19 range from mild to severe illness. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.