Buncombe County Government, NC Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates (Español), 20 Aug 2020

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From YouTube: Actualización del Condado de Buncombe el dia 20 de agosto 2020 sobre COVID-19

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Actualización del Condado de Buncombe el dia 20 de agosto 2020 sobre COVID-19

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Good afternoon and welcome to the august 20th community update, my name is stacy wood and I am a public information officer here in the emergency operations center.

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This community update is available in spanish on the buncombe county, health and human services, facebook page and that can be found on facebook by searching at bchs and all of our community updates can be found on the buncombe county government's youtube channel or on facebook at buncombe.gov, and today's update, we'll go ahead and get started will be provided by stacy saunders, buncombe county's public health director.

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Thanks for joining us today at the community briefing, we appreciate you turning tuning in and being a part of our ongoing cova 19 response.

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As of today, there have been 2. Sixty six lab confirmed cases of covid in buncombe county residents. Our community has administered almost fifty thousand covid19 tests. We, as a community have sadly experienced 54 covid related deaths.

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The majority of those deaths have been associated with long-term care facility outbreaks.

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Another trend we have been following has been the percent of tests that come back positive for covid19 known as percent positivity.

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Recent percent positivity published on the north carolina kova dashboard, shows. Eight percent of the coveted 19 tests performed are coming back positive in north carolina. This percentage for the state has ranged from about seven to ten percent over the last month.

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Our current percent positivity in buncombe is stable around five percent.

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As mentioned last week. About a month ago, we were seeing about 40 new cases on average per day. In the last couple of weeks, we are seeing about 25 to 30 new cases per day on average.

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This is an improvement, but not a sign that we can stop doing the things that help stop the spread of covet 19 like wearing a face covering staying six feet apart and washing our hands. Often.

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As a reminder, testing for covet 19 is available in our community.

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If you do not have health insurance and are worried about the cost of testing, we encourage you to contact your closest federally qualified health center or one of our local clinics that offers discounted fees or programs that cover the cost of testing. For your visit.

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If you are uninsured, you may be eligible for help with paying for certain covet 19 testing costs through the north carolina medicaid, optional, cova, 19 testing program to be eligible. You must live in north carolina not be covered by medicaid, medicare or other health insurance, be a u.s citizen or u.s national or have eligible immigration status.

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We will add this information in the chat and we'll also make it available on our website at buncomberready.org.

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If you do not have a health care provider who offers testing for cova 19 and you meet criteria for getting tested, you can use the state's find my testing site website to find cova testing near you.

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There are many places in our county offering testing for covet 19, including primary care providers, community health, centers, urgent, cares, hospital systems and pharmacies.

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You can also schedule an appointment at one of the county's community testing sites.

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We went over the steps last week and wanted to review them again with you step, one complete the buncombe county, self-checker online or over the phone to make sure you should be tested.

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The buncombe county self-checker can be found online at buncomberready.org.

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If you need help completing the self-checker, you can call the ready team at.

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828-419-0095 from 8 30 to 5 monday through friday,.

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Step two: once you complete the self checker online or over the phone, and your answers indicate that you should be tested, you will fill out a registration form step three once the registration form is complete and submitted. A representative from the ready team will contact you over the phone to schedule a date and time for testing.

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Remember, please, do not show up at the sites before making an appointment with a member of the ready team and receiving your assigned appointment time. This is especially important over the weekend at the sunday site.

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If you do not receive a call back from the ready team, you do not yet have an appointment and step four show up at this testing site on your scheduled date and time and get tested just a reminder. Our community testing sites are available on sunday at ab tech tuesdays at the ingles and swananoa and thursdays at buncombe county sports park.

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Cost is not a barrier to testing at these sites. There is no out-of-pocket cost to the testing.

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If you have insurance, it will be billed to cover the cost of the test, and spanish medical interpreters will be at the testing sites for more information about covid19 testing in buncombe county. Please visit buncomberready.org.

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And just as a reminder, if you are getting tested because you are symptomatic or have been exposed to a known positive case, then you should isolate after being tested and remain isolated until you receive your test results with instructions. Regarding your next steps.

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Once a case is identified, local public health works with the case to identify their closed contacts. Contact tracing then begins.

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This is the process of contacting the individuals who were in close contact of a known, positive, individual contact tracing is very important to stopping the spread of virus in our community.

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It is important that people answer the call when the community team reaches out, because the team is trying to provide important information to you about your risk and your health individuals being contacted will get an initial initial text from the number 45390.

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Or an email from dhhs.nc.gov with follow-up phone calls from their local health department or nc outreach at.

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844-628-7223, the community team will never ask for anyone's social security, number bank numbers credit card numbers or any other financial information.

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Any information shared during the call is private health record information and strictly confidential.

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So what's next and what's new, it's almost time for flu shots, the flu vaccine is always important, but this year, most certainly important for the upcoming flu season. Flu vaccination will be very important to reduce burden of flu illness because it can help reduce the overall impact of respiratory illnesses on the population.

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This also means that it can help lessen the resulting burden on our health care system. During the covet 19 pandemic, the impacts of flu can vary, but it's not just a week in bed. For some, the flu can turn deadly and is particularly dangerous for those who are over 65 young children and those with compromised immune systems.

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Many providers, pharmacies and other health agencies will be receiving their flu vaccine supplies.

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We strongly encourage you to get a flu vaccine to protect yourself this season.

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We also encourage you to talk with your medical provider about other vaccines like the pneumococcal or shingles vaccines. That may be recommended for your age. Please do everything you can to take care of yourself and each other.

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We do appreciate the compliance to the face, covering mandates that we've been seeing where social distancing can be harder to achieve. Please continue to do this important work.

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If you have questions or concerns about face coverings or the governor's most recent order, you can call the ready team at.

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While we are hopeful to see continued stability in numbers and trends in order to continue moving in the right direction, now is the time to further commit our efforts to slow and stop the spread of covet 19 in our communities.

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Remember to stay six feet apart, wash your hands and wear your face covering. Thank you for your time and your commitment in slowing the.

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So, in conclusion, we have two upcoming events that we would like to make you aware of join us next tuesday, at 5 30 p.m. On august 25th, for let's talk back to school and learning resources in espanol as we face the challenges of remote learning, students, educators, parents and community partners are working hard to meet the needs of every student join us for this informative session, fully hosted in spanish by buncombe county government support service staff from asheville city schools and buncombe county schools in the united way.

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It is also important to fill out the census if you have not already show up for our community in this very important way by taking the census today. It does not take long five minutes and you can access the census at online at.

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Www.2020Census.Gov the deadline is at the end of september. Thank you for tuning in to today's community update and we will be back next thursday august 27th at 3 pm have a safe and healthy weekend.

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