After more than half a year since COVID-19 vaccines were introduced, Gilmer County’s new case numbers are decreasing, noted the director of the North Georgia Health District during last week’s quarterly Gilmer County Board of Health teleconference meeting.
Health Director Dr. Zachary Taylor said there has been 2,525 total cases of COVID and 75 deaths in Gilmer since the pandemic started. Recently, there’s been a downturn with 20 new cases reported in the past two weeks, he added.
“The case rate for the past two weeks is 64 per 100,000, which is good. The (positivity rate) is 1.8 percent of those tested in the last two weeks, which is also excellent,” he added.
Taylor said 9,206 people, or 30 percent of the county’s population, has been fully vaccinated.
“It’s a little bit below the state (numbers where) 41 percent have received at least one dose and 34 percent have been fully vaccinated, (but) the county is doing very well,” Taylor added.
The Gilmer Health Department has given 17,406 COVID vaccinations since Jan. 11, noted nurse manager Krystal Sumner.
“We’ve moved from the Piedmont Community Center back to the health department. That has enabled us to resume our normal services, which we started March 1,” she added.
The local health department’s vaccination outreach efforts in the community are ongoing, noted Taylor and Sumner. “We’d certainly like to do something in the schools where the kids can get vaccinated so they don’t have to miss school or any extracurricular activities because of quarantine. If a school would like to work with us to set up something to get their athletes vaccinated this summer or do something prior to school starting so the kids don’t have to miss school, we’d be glad to do that,” Taylor said.
Sumner said the health department has vaccinated several residents and staff at Parkside Skilled Nursing Care, as well as 376 Pilgrim’s poultry plant employees, 25 inmates at the Gilmer Detention Center and 27 homebound residents.
“We’re (also) contacting local businesses, the chamber, schools, Hispanic owned businesses and churches, ETC and Pilgrims. We hosted a family day on a weekend where (Pilgrims) employees could bring their children in to be vaccinated. We’ve also gone several times and done onsite vaccines for their employees,” she added.
The local vaccination rate for ages 19 and under remains pretty low at 8.7 percent, Sumner noted.
“We’re hoping when school starts and people realize that, when they get vaccinated, they won’t have to quarantine, those numbers will go up. The students who receive our Seamless Summer lunches are getting info on the Pfizer vaccine, which we’re now offering every day,” she added.
Studies are still being done to determine acceptable vaccine dosages for children 12 and under, Taylor noted.
“(The dosage) will probably be based on weight. Once they decide on the dosage, they’ll have to do the clinical trials, so it may not be until sometime late this year or early next year,” he added.
Sumner told Board of Health members that the number of patients seen by at the local health department between last April and this past April was more than triple than in the previous year.
“From March 2019-March 2020 (we) saw 10,569 patients. From April 2020-April 2021, we saw 34,051 patients. I want to praise my staff for the hard work they’ve done over the past year,” she said.
Taylor called the Gilmer Health Department one of the best in the state.
“They’ve done an incredible job under Krystal’s leadership with testing and vaccinations. I really think they’re a huge asset to your county,” he said.