Wake scales back COVID testing and vaccine appointments. What other counties are doing
Wake County Public Health has begun reducing appointments for COVID-19 tests and vaccinations as the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to decline.
“This is a great sign of the progress we’re making in bringing case numbers down and reducing community spread of the virus,” Wake County Commissioner Chair Sig Hutchinson said in a news release.
“Thanks to more doctors’ offices and pharmacies offering these services, new treatments for post-infection, as well as the increased availability of free at-home testing kits, the community now has more options than ever to protect themselves and their families,” he said.
Wake County has been offering 8,000 daily testing appointments but only averaging 1,100 tests per day across the county’s five testing sites.
As of Thursday, the county will offer about 1,900 testing appointments each day.
Similarly, the county was offering about 2,000 daily vaccine appointments but only averaging about 60 doses per day. That will be scaled back to 1,015 daily appointments.
The services will remain free and available six days a week with the days, hours and locations remaining the same, according to the news release.
Appointments are still required for a COVID test or vaccine, at wakegov.com/covid.
You can also make an appointment by calling the N.C. COVID-19 hotline at 888-675-4567.
As of March 5, 81% of Wake County residents, ages 5 and older, had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Orange County
Orange County’s public health department is not reducing its vaccination and testing services, said Kristin Prelipp, a county spokesperson, though testing rates have declined.
She said the vaccine sites already had reduced their schedules last month from being open three days a week to two days, Friday and Saturday, she said.
The county has two testing sites and two vaccine sites, in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough.
Chapel Hill’s testing site averages 60 to 90 tests a day and has the capacity to give out up to 300 tests. The Hillsborough testing site averages 30 tests a day and can provide up to 250 tests a day.
“The (testing sites) plan to keep that capacity because we know that in the past history in this pandemic, things ebb and flow, but it would be great to be ready if there would happen to be more cases,” Prelipp said.
“(Vaccination) numbers are a little bit lower but we need people to get boosted ... if we want to keep these cases low.”
About 47% of Orange County’s population, or 70,284 people, has received a booster or an additional shot of the vaccine, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Over 75% of the county is fully vaccinated with two doses, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Durham County
Durham doesn’t intend to reduce vaccination clinic hours, but wants to “ensure efficient use of our vaccination clinic staffing as demand within our clinic decreases,” said Alecia Smith, Durham County Public Health Department spokeswoman.
The County evaluates staffing demand monthly for the testing services provided through contractor Optum Serve at El Centro Hispano. Health department staff will determine in April whether testing operations will need to be altered.
Over 8,000 tests were administered at county testing sites the week of March 6 to March 12 with an estimated positive rate of 8.5%.
About 40% of the county’s population or 132,889 people have received a booster shot or additional dose of the vaccine, according to NCDHHS. Seventy-one percent of Durham County’s population is fully vaccinated.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 11:38 AM.
