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COVID-19
Macon County saw eight new COVID-19 cases in a seven-day period from June 29 to July 6.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, July 6, Macon County Public Health reported 290 total COVID-19 cases, up from 281 reported on June 29. The 209 reported on July 6 included 114 active positive cases, 175 recovered and one death. There were 281 cases still pending test results.
Meanwhile, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a program to test residents and staff at all skilled nursing facilities in the state – more than 400 nursing homes with about 36,000 residents and more than 30,000 staff members. Testing begins in July and continues through August.
On June 25, the Macon health department reported that two staff members at Macon Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation had tested positive. Both were asymptomatic and are isolating at home. There have been no reports of positive tests among residents.
“We are using every tool we have to respond to COVID-19,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D. “Building on North Carolina’s early and aggressive actions to protect residents who live in long-term care settings, DHHS will pay for proactive testing of staff and residents in all nursing homes to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
DHHS secretary Mandy Cohen said the state is partnering with Omnicare, a CVS Health company, to do baseline tests of all residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities.
CVS Health will bill insurance companies when possible to help pay for the tests, and the state has agreed to cover any additional costs, according to a news release announcing the initiative.
“Testing will enable our skilled nursing facilities to identify positive cases earlier and better determine additional infection prevention and control measures necessary to contain spread,” said Susan Kansagra, the DHHS section chief of Chronic Disease and Injury.
Cohen cautioned that a shortage of testing materials may delay results.
“While we continue to expand testing, it is important to note that commercial and hospital labs across the country, including here in North Carolina, are again running into shortages of important chemicals called reagents that are needed to process tests,” Cohen said in an article published by N.C. Health News. “As a result, labs are seeing backups in processing samples and are taking longer to provide results. Federal action is needed to help address these supply issues.”
NO PATIENTS AT ANGEL
Angel Medical Center CEO Karen Gorby said the Franklin hospital has had seven COVID-19 patients admitted since the pandemic began. There are no COVID patients currently
The entire Mission Health System was ranging between two to six inpatients at any one time in April. That number has shot up to 16-20 now, a trend Gorby described as “somewhat alarming.”
“The reality is that until they develop a vaccine, this is just going to be part of our lives – the wearing of masks and getting screened,” she said. “It’s our new normal.”
Gorby urged patients with chronic health issues or those that are at risk of heart attacks and strokes not to delay coming to the hospital.
“People still a little afraid,” she said “We are down on the number people coming to the ED (emergency department).”
She assured those patients that the hospital is screening everyone who walks through the door and that no staff has tested positive.