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From YouTube: COVID-19 Community Update (March 15, 2022)
Description
Visit buncombeready.org for more information.
A
Thank
you
again,
commissioners
and
our
community
members
who
are
listening
in
for
the
time
today
to
provide
you
an
update.
My
message
today
will
sound
a
little
like
a
repeat,
but
a
repeat
of
really
good
news.
Our
local
indicators
continue
to
improve,
as
omicron
surge
continues
to
fade.
Here's
our
epi
curve,
starting
at
the
beginning
of
may
just
so.
A
A
Two
additional
deaths
were
added
to
the
dashboard
this
past
week,
and
this
is
a
decline
over
a
plateau
for
two
weeks
prior.
A
Our
local
metrics
seen
here
are
all
moving
or
have
already
moved
into
very
favorable
areas,
and
so
you
can
see
a
lot
more
of
the
green
now
we
still
have
our
case
rate
still
in
that
orange
area.
A
A
So
as
such
public
health
will
be
migrating
to
the
community
level
tool
and
sun
setting
our
local
metrics.
It
just
makes
sense
now
to
do
this,
because
we
believe
moving
to
the
communal
tool
is
aligned
with
the
direction
that
we've
all
been
moving
into
since
the
beginning
of
2022,
with
an
emphasis
on
covet
burden
and
hospitalization.
So
that's
severe
illness
pieces
so
covet
19
will
continue
to
be
a
part
of
our
lives
going
forward.
We
will
use
the
community
level
tool
to
help
identify
additional
precautions
based
on
the
level
of
risk.
A
In
addition
to
shifting
our
monitoring
of
local
trends
to
the
community
tool
community
level
tool,
our
covet
19
command
team
has
discussed
and
recommended
that
we
move
to
once
monthly
community
briefings,
beginning
april
5th,
with
decreasing
trends,
community
understanding
of
recommendations
and
precautions
based
on
the
risk
and
that
we
are
demobilizing
mass
cova
19
operations
and
continuing
to
integrate
those
into
our
regular
public
health
operations.
It
is
time
to
also
reduce
the
frequency
of
the
briefings.
A
Ultimately,
we
hope
to
transition
to
no
standing
briefings
within
one
to
two
cycles
so
about
one
to
two
months,
but
reserve
the
opportunity
to
provide
more
frequent
briefing
should
the
kova
19
situation
warrant
or
the
board
so
requests
it.
A
A
In
the
past
week,
buncombe
county
hhs
saw
a
jump
in
vaccines
administered
thanks
in
part
to
our
equity
focus
community
outreach
which
I'll
talk
about
on
the
next
slide.
Overall,
72
percent
of
our
eligible
population
has
received
at
least
one
dose
and
almost
99,
000
third
or
booster
doses
have
been
administered
at
this
time.
A
A
A
A
So
I
want
to
thank
all
of
our
partners
involved
in
the
planning
and
implementation
and
execution
of
that
event,
who
also
provided
lots
of
wrap
around
information.
While
we
were
providing
vaccine
and
as
a
reminder
to
our
neighbors,
who
are
not
yet
up
to
date
on
their
vaccines
and
with
reports
indicating
from
europe
and
other
other
places
that
they
are
beginning
to
see
a
rise
in
cases.
A
As
you've
heard
me
say
before,
and
as
our
world
sort
of
shifts
into
a
more
endemic
approach
to
our
response
to
covet
19,
it
is
likely
that
we
will
see
waves
of
cases
come
and
again
just
a
reminder
that,
as
we
proceed
on
this
journey
from
pandemic
to
more
of
an
endemic
state,
it
doesn't
mean
that
covid
has
disappeared.
It
actually
the
very
nature
of
being
in
means
it's
with
us
all
the
time.
A
Community
testing
is
still
available
in
buncombe.
If
you
are
having
symptoms
and
have
been
exposed,
you
can
visit
the
starmed
website
to
find
a
location
and
time
to
be
tested.
Currently,
starmia
continues
to
provide
testing
at
the
asheville
mall
and
at
harris
convention
center
they
did
discontinue
their
site
at
ab
tech
on
sundays
and
mondays
due
to
low
turnout,
and
that
was
effective
this
week
and
there
are
many
other
testing
providers
in
the
community
and
you
can
find
them
at
the
north.
Carolina
dhhs
find
my
testing
place
website,
which
is
listed.
A
So
the
test
to
treat
program
allows
individuals
who
who
need
to
be
tested
to
be
tested
at
a
site.
If
they
are
positive
possible
positive.
They
then
are
eligible
for
treatment
and
can
receive
an
appropriate
prescription
from
a
qualified
health
care
provider
and
have
their
prescription
filled
at
that
site.
So
it's
essentially
building
a
one-stop
shop
for
folks
who
may
who
are
positive
for
coba
to
19
and
may
be
eligible
or
meet
criteria
for.
A
Treatment
in
some
cases,
individuals
who
receive
covet
19
test
results
through
at-home
testing
or
other
testing
sites
can
also
utilize
the
test
to
treat
location
to
receive
a
prescription
from
a
qualified
healthcare
provider
and
treatment
on
the
spot.
If
they're
eligible
there
are
77
retail
pharmacy
sites.
So
the
the
federal
administration
started
this
program
with
their
retail
pharmacy
program
and
there
are
77
retail
pharmacy
sites
within
north
carolina
and
three
are
located
in
buncombe
county.
They
are
listed
on
there.
They
are
all
cvs's.
A
It
is
expected
over
the
next
few
weeks
that
additional
locations,
including
fqhcs
and
long-term
care
facilities,
will
be
added
to
the
program
by
mid-march.
We
anticipate
that
a
site
locator,
so
one
of
those
way-finding
sites
will
be
launched
by
the
federal
administration
and
north
carolina
department
of
health
and
human
services
has
stated
that
they're
also
expecting
to
update
their
treatment
locator
to
designate
test
to
treat
on
their
locator.
So
as
people
look
at
their
treatment
locator,
it
will
designate
spots
as
tests
to
treat
versus
just
having
treatment.