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The one-year anniversary of White County’s first confirmed COVID-19 case – and a new world of mask wearing, social distancing and venue closures – arrives this week with a significant expansion of the state’s vaccine eligibility.
by Beau Evans, Capitol Beat News Service, and Wayne Hardy, White County News
The one-year anniversary of White County’s first confirmed COVID-19 case – and a new world of mask wearing, social distancing and venue closures – arrives this week with a significant expansion of the state’s vaccine eligibility.
All Georgians age 16 and older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, March 25, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.
The long-awaited expansion comes as Georgia is set to receive another boost in the weekly shipment of vaccines, largely due to the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that increased the state’s allotment this week to 450,000 doses, according to the governor.
“This is our ticket back to normal,” Kemp said. “We’re getting closer to that point every single day.”
Meanwhile, the county’s rate of new infections has flattened in recent weeks, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. The seven-day moving average of confirmed cases was at 1.7 daily reports as of March 23. The average was at 1.6 on March 16, 0.7 on March 9 and 4 on March 2. The average hasn’t reach 2 per day since March 6. For comparison, that number was 30.1 on Jan. 14.
There have been 31 confirmed cases for the month through March 23, compared to 182 in February, 659 in January and 688 in December. State Public Health lists 63 local deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Of the 2,889 confirmed cases reported to DPH as of March 22, the White County Emergency Management Agency considered 2,020 of the cases to be recoveries. The agency’s update considers a case to be a recovery 21 days after the case report is provided to the county.
The White County School System’s weekly status report released March 24 said there was currently no students or staff who had reported positive for COVID-19 or were quarantined for possible exposure.
Speaking at a news conference, Kemp said Georgia expects to gain another bump in vaccine doses next week from the federal government – though he was not sure yet how much more the state will receive.
So far, Georgia has distributed roughly 3.2 million vaccine doses to groups that have gradually become eligible since mid-December, including all residents ages 55 and older, health-care workers, nursing home residents and staff, first responders, judges, courtroom staff and people with physical, mental or behavioral health conditions.
The vaccine rollout has seen nearly 75% of the state’s residents ages 65 and older receive at least their first dose, setting Georgia on a path to having its most vulnerable population inoculated in the coming weeks.
Still, state officials continue to see “vaccine hesitancy” in rural areas, particularly parts of Georgia south of the Columbus-Macon-Augusta line.
In a show of confidence, Kemp said he is scheduled to get his first vaccine dose on Friday and has been talking with former University of Georgia football star Champ Bailey to spread awareness in Georgia about the efficacy – and importance – of receiving the vaccine.
“I just want to encourage everybody to get the vaccine,” Kemp said. “We’re seeing this across the country, but especially in the South, we’re seeing vaccine hesitancy.”
“There should not be hesitancy. This is a medical miracle.”