Update from Local Public Health Regarding School Safety Fall 2021
Update from Local Public Health for School Safety Fall 2021 In keeping with CDC guidance and good infection control practice, Granville Vance Public Health recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place.Earlier today, a notification was shared with all schools and child care centers in the district inviting nurses and leaders to the next webinar hosted by Dr. Shauna Guthrie, our GVPH medical director. This School/Child Care COVID-19 Check-in will be held on Friday, August 6th, at 3 pm. This will be a chance to learn the latest CDC and NCDHHS guidance/recommendation for schools, ask Dr. Guthrie any questions you may have, and meet Jesus Peralta, our new GVPH COVID-19 Liaison for School/Child Care centers. See the full memo regarding updated COVID-19 guidance for schools for the 2021-2022 school year.
Feb. 19th Vaccine Clinic Update
Feb. 19th Vaccine Clinic Update Granville Vance Public Health will be opening at 10:30am today, Friday, February 19th. We are still planning to host our vaccine clinics today. The second dose clinic at Granville County Expo Center will begin at 12pm and all morning appointments have been rescheduled to the afternoon. Those who have second dose appointments scheduled this morning in Vance County should arrive anytime between 10:30am-4:30pm to receive your shot. Granville Vance Public Health has rescheduled all vaccine clinics originally planned for February 18th. Those who had appointments at the Vance County Health Department to receive their second dose have been rescheduled for February 25th at the same time and place as your original appointment. Those who had appointments for their first dose at Ritchie Brothers in Butner, may call our hotline at 252-295-1503 on Monday, February 20th to reschedule your appointment if you have not already been rescheduled. Please be careful and safe on the roads today!
2nd Dose Clinic on Feb. 14th POSTPONED to Feb. 21st
The Second Dose Vaccine Clinic at Clarke Elementary School and Vance County High School scheduled in Henderson, NC, for February 14th has been postponed until the same time on Sunday, February 21st. Winter weather has caused organizers to make a decision considering driver safety. Again, we will host the second dose Pfizer vaccine clinic in Henderson, NC, at Clarke Elementary School and Vance County High School on Sunday, February 21st from 10am until 4pm. If you attended our first dose vaccine clinic on January 24th, you do not need to make an appointment to come on Sunday, February 21st. We have your second dose ready and you are already registered for this clinic. Only those who were vaccinated with a first dose of Pfizer vaccine on January 24th will receive vaccine on February 21st. There is a window of up to six weeks past the first dose to receive your second dose that is an acceptable recommended timeframe and follows administration guidance from the vaccine manufacturer. There is no harm in waiting one more week to ensure everyone’s safety on the roads. Thank you and stay safe.
Jan. 28th – GVPH opening on a 2 hour delay
Granville Vance Public Health will be operating on a 2 hour delay today, Jan. 28th. We will open at 10:30 am. If you have an appointment for vaccine during this time, we request you delay your appointment by 2 hours. We look forward to serving you!
GVPH Vaccinating 1a, Soon to Move to 1b
Granville and Vance Counties are currently in the Phase 1a distribution and we are giving vaccines every day. We plan to move to Phase 1b, Group 1 (only those aged 75 and over), on Thursday, January 14th as we continue prioritizing those at highest risk for severe illness and death due to COVID-19. It will take us through the month of March to make good progress in all the groups within these first two phases (1a and 1b). We expect to be move from phase 1b into other phases in the spring. For this initial phase, 1a, we are reaching out to eligible health care organizations and individuals with additional instructions to sign up for vaccination. Please wait until the phase you are eligible for is announced on the radio, the newspaper, or on our GVPH COVID-19 Vaccine website at https://www.gvph.org/covidvaccines/ to reach out to the health department about making an appointment for the vaccine. We will provide more information the week of January 11th about how to register in the mandatory statewide COVID Vaccine Management System (CVMS). There is a survey everyone must fill out as part of registration and the system is not accessible to individuals at this time. For individuals in Phase 1b, Group 1 (only individuals who are 75 and older), beginning the week of January 11th, they can call the health department to register and schedule their appointment. Any other instructions that may help make your vaccine appointment move faster (such as forms you need to fill out ahead of your appointment) will be posted on our website. If you are not in Phase 1a or Phase 1b Group 1, please refrain from contacting the health department until we announce we are moving into later groups and phases. Given the volume of calls we are receiving, a Granville Vance COVID Vaccine Information Hotline has been established at 252-295-1503. Read the full press release here for more information.
GVPH Administers First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine!
Granville Vance Public Health is thrilled to announce a momentous occasion in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic – we received of our initial shipment of Moderna vaccine doses in Granville on Monday, December 21st. We received a total of 700 doses across our Granville and Vance locations combined. On Tuesday, December 22nd, we administered our first few doses to some of our clinical staff at the health department who qualify for Phase 1A. Our team is taking inventory, preparing the ancillary supplies, training on computer systems and vaccine handling, and preparing to vaccine others. This hallmark in the pandemic experience marks the beginning of the end! So much good public health work lies ahead. We will continue to share information about COVID-19 vaccination on our website, through our Facebook, and in partnership with the local media. To learn more, visit our website at www.gvph.org/covid-19-vaccines or the NCDHHS website at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines. See the full press release for more information: Granville Vance Public Health COVID-19 Vaccine Press Release – Dec. 23, 2020
GVPH COVID-19 Press Release Nov. 23rd
“Although the number of active cases in our counties had been trending downward over the past few months, our data have quickly begun trending in the wrong direction again. Unfortunately, we have set numerous records this week for number of new cases and deaths in North Carolina and the United States. As of today, November 23rd, we have 255 active cases of COVID-19 in Granville County and have recorded 56 deaths over the course of the pandemic response. In Vance County, we have 414 active COVID-19 cases and 54 deaths… Please remember – every action you take to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in a given setting, whether at the grocery store, in your workplace, or at a family gathering, adds up to make it harder for the virus to transmit from person to person. And, the more we can reduce the spread, the more lives we can save. We want to gather again for the holidays next year, so let’s do all we can to preserve our health this year.” See full press release here.
UnitedHealthcare Donates $125,000 to Granville-Vance Public Health
UnitedHealthcare has awarded a $125,000 Empowering Health grant to Granville-Vance Public Health to help us assist Granville County Public Schools with distributing meals to homebound students so they don’t go hungry when school is out. In total, UnitedHealthcare is donating $12.3 million through Empowering Health grants across 21 states to expand access to care and address the social determinants of health for uninsured individuals and underserved communities. We’re grateful for UnitedHealthcare’s support as we work to further our mission of protecting and promoting health in Granville and Vance Counties. It’s important now, more than ever, that we work together.
GVPH Health Director Lisa Macon Harrison Elected Board Vice President of the National Association of County and City Health Officials
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) has elected Lisa Macon Harrison, Local Health Director of Granville Vance Public Health, to its 2020-2021 Board of Directors as Vice President. NACCHO is the voice of the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. Ms. Harrison assumed the Vice President role on July1, 2020. She will then serve as president-elect in 2021-2022 and president in 2022-2023. See the full press release below. https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/north-carolina-local-public-health-leader-lisa-macon-harrison-elected-board-vice-president-of-the-national-association-of-county-and-city-health-officials
GVPH Carolina Fellows Family Dentistry receives grant award from The Duke Endowment
We received some wonderful news this week! Carolina Fellows Family Dentistry, our dental clinic, received a $400,000 grant from The Duke Endowment to expand dental care in rural and underserved schools in Granville and Vance Counties. The grant enables Carolina Fellows Family Dentistry to launch school-based programs that prioritize preventive services (such as regular cleanings) and address certain restorative treatments (including fillings) for school-aged children. For more information about the grant award, please see our press release.We are so proud of the work that has gone into planning for this grant and look forward to better serving children in our communities!