Buncombe County COVID cases continue plateau, vaccine waitlist complete

Posted on — Community Bulletin

Press release from Buncombe County:

On Tuesday, March 30, Buncombe County Public Health Director Stacie Saunders provided a COVID-19 update to the Board of Commissioners. As of March 30:

– There have been 16,409 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Buncombe County since the pandemic’s start.
– There have been 301 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic’s start.
– There are 27 new cases per day, and the number of new cases per 100,000 per week is 75.
– The percent positivity has ticked up to 4 percent.

“Our successes so far are still so fragile,” said Saunders. “We must stay diligent and confident in the 3 Ws until more of our neighbors are vaccinated.” Saunders also emphasized to stay home and get tested if people experience symptoms or believe they’ve been exposed to COVID-19. Testing locations can be found at the North Carolina Find My Testing Place website.

Vaccines
Beginning March 31, remaining individuals for Group 4b will be eligible for vaccines. This group includes other essential workers and those living in other group settings that have not been vaccinated. The waitlist previously utilized by Buncombe County Health and Human Services (BCHHS) has been exhausted, so individuals looking for an appointment may schedule their own by going to www.buncombeready.org or by calling 828-419-0095. Both options are available 24 hours a day.

· Vaccines administered by BCHHS since Dec. 22, 2020: 58,707
· Total doses of vaccine administered in Buncombe County: 136,259
· Total doses administered in N.C.: 4.7 million
· Percentage of the Buncombe County population fully vaccinated: 19%
· Percentage of Buncombe County population partially vaccinated: 33.3%
· Buncombe County baseline weekly vaccine allocation: 3,510
· Additional vaccine doses received for equity purposes: 300
· Additional vaccine doses received to then transfer: 1,170 for transfer to Ingles Markets

To get more information on vaccine distribution in Buncombe County, text “covid” to 99411.

Vaccines for Group 5, all North Carolinians, are expected to become available April 7.

Please continue to practice the 3Ws to stop transmission of COVID-19, even if you’ve received a vaccine. It will take the vaccine and these important preventative measures to get our families back to a sense of normalcy. For more information about COVID-19, vaccine appointments and COVID testing, go to www.buncombeready.org.

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