COVID-19

3.2.2021

Burke County Residents:

The Governor announced today that starting tomorrow, March 3rd, 2021 priority Group 3: Frontline Essential Workers will now be expanding to include in-person frontline essential workers and those who work in one of the eight essential sectors listed. This group is already open to Child Care/Pre-k through 12th grade teachers, staff, and personnel. Please call 828-358-4454 to schedule your appointment if you have not already done so. 

Please click the link below to read on the eight essential sectors to see if you are eligible to receive a vaccination in Group 3.

Deeper Dive-Group 3 Frontline Essential Workers

Starting on Thursday, March 24th, priority Group 4: High Risk Conditions and Increased Risk of Severe Illness to COVID-19 will be able to receive a vaccine. This group will also be encouraged to call 828-358-4454 to schedule their appointments.

To see  what high risk conditions fall under this category, please click the link below. 

Deeper Dive-Group 4 High Risk Conditions 16-64 Years of Age

We thank you for your patience as we navigate through this time.

2.10.2021

Burke County Residents:

You may be aware that as of yesterday (2/10/2021), the Governor announced a modification to Group 3 and to begin the process of vaccinations for this group.  The NC Department of Health and Human Services is currently still sending a limited vaccine supply--they have asked vaccine providers to begin on February 24, vaccinating educators/school personnel through March 10th along with continuing to prioritize health care workers, long-term staff and residents and those aged 65+.  

Beginning March 10, the State will open Group 3 – frontline essential workers by State definition and as soon as we receive the guidance and definition for what essential workers this entails we will push out that information.  

Everyone who wishes to receive a vaccination will eventually receive one, but please know this will continue to be a lengthy process as long as the vaccine supply coming in continues to be limited.

We will keep you updated as often as we receive state guidance.

1.29.2021

Public Service Announcement

We want to inform the public of the vaccine situation for Burke County for the next three weeks.   The Burke County Health Department and Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge received notification from the State that the vaccine shipment for the next three weeks for Burke County will be smaller shipments.  

The Community Vaccine Call Center schedules will fill up quickly for the next three weeks with  the reduced number of shots we were given.   Everyone must call the Community Vaccine Call Center at 828-358-4454 to make an appointment. - When the schedule is full,  the call center will have a message placed to notify you that all appointments have been filled due to the weekly allocations.

Please know that  the health department is continuing to  vaccinate the staff and residents of the long-term care and group home facilities.

We understand that the lack of vaccine inventory may be an inconvenience for the public.   County agencies and Carolinas Health Care System Blue Ridge are working collaboratively with the state on a weekly basis.  We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work hard to try to vaccinate our community safely and efficiently.

If you would like your voices to be heard about the vaccine shortage, please direct your comments to your state legislative representatives and to the Governor.  Thank you

As of January 19th

NEWS UPDATE: The vaccine registration process has changed to allow more convenient access and scheduled appointment times to get the COVD-19 vaccination. We have changed the phone system so that we will be able to handle the volume of calls. 

If you are 65 years or older and wish to get the vaccine, please call the Community Vaccine Call Center to schedule an appointment at 828-358-4454.  The call center will be open Monday through Wednesday 8am to 4:30pm to assist you with scheduling.

Carolinas HealthCare System Blue Ridge, Burke County Public Schools, Burke Emergency Management and Burke County Health Department are working in collaboration to get vaccines to our residents in the priority groups 1 and 2 based on the NC DHHS guidelines. This includes essential healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, dentists, etc., and those in long term care/group homes, etc. This group also includes people who are 65 years old and older.

The community continues to receive very limited weekly vaccine allocations from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, and we are vaccinating our residents as those vaccines are received.

We would like to say again that our commitment is to administer the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly, efficiently, and fairly to all residents who wish to be vaccinated. 

Since the first vaccine distribution in late December, Burke County has received 5,675 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with the following distribution: 3,800 doses received by the hospital, 500 received by the health department and 1,375 received by Broughton and J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center for their employees. 

We have many residents who fall into groups 1 and 2. Burke County has 8,389 residents over 75 and 13,020 residents who are between 65-74.  

Our team is preparing a vaccination plan based on weekly state allocations and will implement it as soon as adequate dosage allocation is received. In the meantime, we will be making decisions on a weekly basis as we receive dosage allocation numbers. We will not be able to accept walk-ins. Please make sure that you have an appointment. 

Again, thank you for your continued patience.