Fort Hill – Graham County is currently seeing a downward trend in COVID-19 cases, as it begins to ramp up a county-wide vaccine initiative.
At the Graham County Board of Health meeting on Nov. 1, Health Director Beth Booth discussed the county’s current position with the virus.
She said she was now comfortable saying cases were in a decline in the county, factoring in continued low numbers for a few weeks.
“Our numbers are declining,” Booth said. “I feel safe saying that. They are staying at a steady low.”
She said the health department was currently offering both third doses and boosters for the Moderna vaccine and emphasized the difference between the two. She said that the third dose contained more vaccine than the booster, and that a booster shot was only available with the Moderna vaccine.
Booth noted that the health department only offered Moderna. However, she said the health department would offer the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5-11 if the Centers For Disease Control authorized it, a move that will likely come this week. The Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer vaccine for the younger age group last week.
Ages 5-11 will receive a substantially lower dose than ages 12 and up.
“It’s actually a different vial,” Booth said. “Apparently, one’s a different-colored cap than the other one because the dose is very different for children versus adults.”
A mass vaccine event is scheduled for Saturday, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Robbinsville High School. The event will kick off a new, countywide vaccination initiative. For each person receiving their shot at the event and subsequently, $50 will be donated to a youth activity of the recipient’s choice, which include the Black Knight Band, Graham County Parks and Recreation, Graham County 4-H and Black Knight athletics.
“We are really pushing for folks to go to that event to lessen the strain on local resources,” Booth said.
Booth emphasized that funds were already set aside for the donations to youth programs, with funds coming from the county’s American Rescue Plan dollars and a grant from the Dogwood Health Trust.
“We didn’t cap it at a dollar amount, just because we can go back to our grant funders and ask for more if we have more people seek the vaccine,” Booth said.
Inspections update
During her update on environmental health, Booth also said that the health department was no longer inspecting the restaurants at the Fontana Village Resort, due to the land the property is built on being turned back over to the Tennessee Vally Authority.
“When it was under lease, it just kind of went, because when you change ownership and change corporate names, you have to redo all that paperwork. All of these things are free, but in doing so, you have things like this pop up,” Booth said.
She said the restaurants could be inspected by a federal agency, or a contract could be reached between the health department and the resort.
“To our knowledge, none of that’s happening,” Booth said. “They had reached out to us about it. The problem is, there has to be some kind of contract for us to go in there if their manager asks ‘what right do you have to be here,’ that we have a legs to stand on to enforce the food code.”