Tag: Blue Ridge Health District

Categories
News

In brief: Redistricting delayed

Virginia’s current congressional map yielded seven Democratic representatives and four Republicans in the 2020 election. A bipartisan panel convened to adjust the lines has struggled to make headway. Photo: US Geological Survey

Redistricting commission on brink of collapse  

Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting committee is coming apart at the seams. The bipartisan commission—composed of four Democratic legislators, four Democratic citizens, four Republican legislators, and four Republican citizens—was supposed to create fair, even maps. But the commission can’t agree on anything, and it missed its October 25 deadline to submit Congressional map proposals to the General Assembly. 

Last year, Democrats in the legislature voted to create this commission rather than draw their own congressional lines, an attempt at good-faith mutual disarmament that could go belly-up if the commission continues its stalemate. (“Democrats Supported Redistricting Reform in Virginia. Was it a mistake?” asked a provocative Slate headline.) If the commission can’t agree on maps, the Virginia Supreme Court will hire its own consultant to draw the lines.

“It’s frustrating but also predictable,” said Delegate Marcia Price, a Democrat who opposed the amendment, in The Washington Post. “I just think inherently when you have a partisan and political process you’re going to have gridlock.”  

The seven-day moving average of new local COVID cases is the lowest it’s been since July. Photo: Blue Ridge Health District

COVID cases declining locally 

After a September surge, COVID cases in the Blue Ridge Health district have fallen steadily in the last month. October 25 saw the seven-day moving average of new cases drop to 25.3, the lowest it’s been since July. Vaccination rates locally have largely stagnated: In Charlottesville, 58.7 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, and in Albemarle, that number is 68.1 percent. 

The Blue Ridge Health District has also begun offering booster shots, by appointment, to those age 65 and older, immunocompromised individuals, or people who work in high-risk environments. 

New cases have declined on Grounds as well. The rolling seven-day average of cases is 3.1 per day, down from a late September high of 23.3. UVA has mandated that all university faculty and staff must be vaccinated by December 8. If they refuse, they face unpaid leave or possible termination. The rule comes after a federal government order stipulated that employees working for organizations that have contracts with the federal government must get the shots. Currently, over 95 percent of UVA faculty and staff are fully vaccinated, and the admin is urging all employees to take action as soon as possible in order to meet the December 8 deadline.

In brief

Unknown package was false alarm  

A suspicious package drew attention from the Virginia State Police bomb squad last Friday night. The package was left outside the federal courthouse on West Main Street. The bomb squad cordoned off the area for an hour and a half, but the package ultimately turned out not to be a safety threat, and was later described as a “personal item” by the city.  

Banned band takes a stand

UVA’s marching band won a fight with the administration last week. The band had been banned from playing their instruments in the stands at football games, a regulation purportedly to prevent the spread of COVID. But the band disagreed: “The energy of Scott Stadium is being subdued for the sake of optics,” stated a petition urging the admin to let them play. Eight thousand signatures later, the university relented, and the “Hey Song” once again blared from the stands during Virginia’s victory over Georgia Tech last Saturday.

Civilian watch dogs get a new toy    

The City of Charlottesville has launched a Budget Explorer so that curious citizens can dig deeper into the FY22 adopted budget and compare it to previous years’ budgets. The interactive dashboard allows viewers to review the last four budgets “in line item detail” for most city departments that are part of the general fund. Find yourself wondering how much money the Charlottesville city government spent on small hand tools in 2022 compared to 2019? Have no fear, the Budget Explorer is here!

Categories
News

Poking along

Although supply of the vaccine is beginning to slow, the Blue Ridge Health District currently has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. In Charlottesville, about 30 percent of the city’s 50,000 residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Courtesy Virginia Department of Health.

By Geremia Di Maro

With the one-year anniversary of COVID-related shutdowns just a few weeks away, many people in the area and around the country have a pressing question on their minds: When will we be vaccinated?

Though distribution in the commonwealth began slowly, Virginia now ranks seventh out of 50 states in percent of citizens who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to The New York Times. 

As of Monday, nearly 900,000 Virginians—or about 10 percent of the commonwealth’s total population—have received at least one dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, with an average of 35,811 vaccines administered per day in the state during the past week. About 200,000 of those Virginia residents have also received the necessary second dose of the vaccine to be considered fully vaccinated. 

Closer to home in the Blue Ridge Health District, which includes Charlottesville and Albemarle, Nelson, Greene, Louisa, and Fluvanna counties, per capita vaccination rates rank among the highest in the state—especially in Charlottesville, where roughly 30 percent of the city’s 50,000 residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health. 

Across the district, nearly 70,000 total vaccine doses have been received by local health departments, hospitals, and other care providers since the rollout began. About 50,000 of those doses have been administered, although mostly as first doses thus far. In Charlottesville, almost 4,000 individuals have been fully vaccinated with two doses out of roughly 11,000 across the health district. 

Ryan McKay, director of policy and planning and COVID-19 incident commander for the district, says that the health district has led the state thanks to logistical success in the distribution process. In an area with so many health workers, it can quickly recruit vaccinators and form partnerships with local governments and hospitals, such as UVA Health and Sentara Martha Jefferson. 

At one vaccination event held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center last week, McKay says more than 700 individuals were vaccinated, including many local teachers as well as Charlottesville and Albemarle County staff members. 

But McKay also notes that the average number of vaccines allotted to the district by the VDH—approximately 2,850 on a weekly basis at the moment—is constraining faster progress in getting shots into arms. The district’s weekly dose allocation is based solely on population. 

“What’s really limiting us right now is the allotment that we get from VDH,” says McKay. “We had a big push last week to clear the inventory that was on hand, but that just makes it a little more difficult to provide greater access this week.”

The Blue Ridge Health District is currently overseeing vaccinations for individuals in Phase 1A, which includes frontline health care workers, and limited groups of individuals in Phase 1B, such as law enforcement, fire and other emergency personnel, corrections and homeless shelter employees, as well as teachers and other educators. Individuals 65 years of age and older are also currently eligible to receive the vaccine, and most of that population will be vaccinated by UVA Health. 

McKay says Phase 1A has been mostly completed, adding that significant progress has been made in recent weeks on the first portions of Phase 1B as well. However, the expectation is that most individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 with underlying health conditions—who are included in Phase 1B—may have to wait several more weeks until they are able to receive the vaccine due to limited supply. 

All individuals in Phase 1B are still able to indicate their interest in receiving a vaccine by filling out the district’s online survey or calling their hotline at 972-6261. 

“I think the struggle we’re facing too is that once everything opened up for Phase 1B, that means half of Virginians are now eligible to get vaccinated,” says McKay. “And with only 2,850 doses coming into the health district any given week, that makes it really challenging to try to get people through from all the different categories.”

Eric Swensen, public information officer for the UVA Health System, says UVA Health has been recently administering more than 1,000 vaccine doses per day. 

“Vaccine supplies are expected to be limited during the next few weeks, and we are adjusting our capacity to reflect that change,” says Swensen. 

Since the vaccine rollout is overseen by the VDH and individual health districts, says Swensen, it is currently unclear whether or not will take the lead on administering vaccines to university employees, faculty, and staff who don’t work in health care. 

Moving forward, McKay says the health district plans to hire contracted employees to carry out vaccinations, train paramedics and EMTs to administer vaccines, revamp the district’s online appointment system to better schedule second doses, and ensure that the vaccine rollout is equitable by guaranteeing access to communities of color. 

“We know across the country, in Virginia, and in our own health district, communities of color have had a disproportionate amount of hospitalization, deaths, and cases,” says McKay. “So we want to make sure that we’re providing equitable access [to the vaccine].” 

To determine if you are eligible to be vaccinated in the near future and see a list of upcoming vaccination events, visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s COVID-19 page on the VDH website. 

Categories
News

On a roll: Health department begins vaccinating non-hospital health care workers

Coronavirus case numbers continue to rise in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. PC: Blue Ridge Health District

The local vaccine rollout process continues. About a month after the first coronavirus vaccines were shipped to hospitals across the country, Charlottesville’s frontline health care employees who work outside of hospitals are now getting vaccinated.

On Monday, the Blue Ridge Health District (formerly known as the Thomas Jefferson Health District) began offering the first dose of the Moderna vaccine to area emergency service providers, dialysis center staff, and Region Ten residential facility staff at its location on Rose Hill Drive.

To expedite the distribution process, on Wednesday the district will begin hosting at least three appointment-only clinics per week for these select health care workers in a new temporary structure set up in the former Kmart parking lot. Red Light Management and the Bama Works Fund contributed funding to set up the facility.

“There are over 1,000 EMS [workers] that we need to vaccinate. There are folks going in and out of the hospital as well. So we want to get them done first,” says Kathryn Goodman, spokesperson for the health district.

The shots will be administered by public health nurses, who received their own vaccinations (and vaccine training) at the end of December. The district is currently working to vaccinate the rest of its staff.

The health district hopes to vaccinate about 500 to 600 people per week at the pop-up clinic.

Because both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses to be fully effective, district staff will use a new state Vaccine Administration Management System to properly track appointments and alert patients when they need to return for their second dose.

As more vaccine shipments arrive in the next few weeks, the clinics will open up to other frontline health care workers (hospice employees, primary care providers, dental practice employees, pharmacy workers, Department of Corrections health care personnel, K-12 school nurses, and more) who have had potential contact with COVID or with high-risk patients.

“We’ll have the information sent out to these groups,” says Goodman. “We have quite a long list already of thousands and thousands of individuals who need to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

UVA and Martha Jefferson hospitals continue to vaccinate their own employees. Other health care entities in Charlottesville and surrounding counties must fill out a BRHD survey indicating how many of their employees need to be vaccinated. The district plans to host additional clinics for health care employees—and eventually other essential workers and high-risk individuals—down the line.

To date, 89,326 people have received the vaccine in Virginia, including 1,542 in Charlottesville, and 1,615 in Albemarle County. However, none have been administered their second dose, according to the Virginia Department of Health vaccine dashboard.

Meanwhile, the health district has seen a record surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations since Thanksgiving, and expects numbers to worsen in the next few weeks following the holiday season. In December alone, there were 2,181 new cases, 86 hospitalizations and 10 deaths—the worst month of the pandemic.

While new cases in the district have remained low since the start of the new year, the district’s positivity rate is currently at 9.4 percent, the highest it has been since April.