Page 6
January 8 - 21, 2021
wilmingtonbiz.com
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
| HEALTH CARE |
Vaccines arrive amid COVID-19 surge BY SCOTT NUNN n the morning of Dec. 17, New Hanover Regional Medical Center received nearly 3,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Packed in containers resembling pizza boxes, the otherwise nondescript shipment was the most welcome news since COVID-19 surfaced here in March. By day’s end, phlebotomist Karen Herring became the first person in New Hanover County to be inoculated. Following state and federal guidance, the initial shipment was designated for workers at high risk for exposure to the highly contagious disease, including anyone who interacts with or near infected patients. As of Dec. 22, more than 2,000 NHRMC employees had received the vaccination, which is voluntary. NHRMC’s chief physician executive, Philip Brown, called it “the beginning of the end for [the] COVID19 pandemic.” The shot of hope would be tempered, however, when officials announced that on the day the vaccine
O
arrived, a record 198 new cases were reported in New Hanover County. It was the worst day for case counts in what already was stacking up to be the pandemic’s worst month. Even before the record was set, officials were sounding alarm bells after a post-Thanksgiving spike in cases. In a Dec. 16 video message, assistant health director Carla Turner said a record 156 new cases had been reported that day. On Dec. 3, 107 new cases were reported, the first time the county’s daily count surpassed 100. (As of Dec. 22, there had been nine days with more than 100 new cases.) “We are very comfortable in saying that this recent surge in cases can be attributed to activity over the Thanksgiving holiday,” Turner said. “People got together with family and friends that maybe they hadn’t seen in a while, and what this does is it increases your exposure to COVID-19.” The spike in December also was deadly. Over the seven-day reporting period of Dec. 12-18, the disease killed nine county residents, the
most in any week in the county. As of Jan. 4, New Hanover County had reported 9,917 cases and 91 deaths. In Brunswick County, there had been 4,751 cases and 74 deaths, and in Pender County, there had been 2,962 cases and 22 deaths. Statewide, there has been 570,111 cases and 6,941 deaths. By contrast, the 2019-20 flu season saw 186 deaths statewide, four of them in New Hanover. As of Dec. 22, only one person in North Carolina had died from the flu.
A SECOND VACCINE
As vaccinations were underway at NHRMC, New Hanover County Public Health received 4,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine Dec. 22 and immediately began administering it to employees. The vaccine received emergency approval a week after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The first Moderna vaccinations were given to the public health workers who are performing COVID-19 testing and will be administering the vaccine to the public.
Under Phase 1 of the county’s plan, the vaccine initially will be given to residents and workers at longterm care facilities, first responders, health care workers and adults 65 or older with multiple underlying health conditions. Phase 2 vaccinations will be given in jails and other congregate living facilities, to people with chronic health conditions and those from historically marginalized communities. Phase 3 includes frontline workers in other essential businesses, college students and children 16 and under (if approved at the time). Phase 4 will be for the general public. Phase 1 is expected to take several weeks and the entire plan to take approximately nine months. “In the coming months, Public Health will be setting up sites for vaccine administration. Many physician offices will eventually have the vaccine,” said New Hanover County Health and Human Services Director Donna Fayko. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine require a
