Tazewell, Va. – After weeks of skyrocketing numbers Tazewell County was experiencing a decline in new Covid 19 cases as the year drew to an end.
The county entered the Christmas holiday period with a seven day average of 51 new cases per day. The Dec. 26 count was 19 and Dec. 27 showed 14 new cases. For the year there were 2,200 cases with 74 people hospitalized and 16 deaths.
The county has the highest number of cases in the four county Cumberland Plateau district. Russell County was showing 1,446 total cases with 86 hospitalizations and 16 deaths.
Buchanan County has had 24 deaths since the virus started and is listed with 52 people that either are or have been hospitalized and 736 total cases. Dickenson County lists a total of 600 cases with 23 hospitalized and four deaths.
Statewide there have been 336,750 cases reported as of five p.m. Dec. 27. Those cases have resulted in 17,605 hospitalizations and 4,861 deaths. Statewide 4,168,673 people have been tested for the virus.
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In the Cumberland Plateau District 30,934 people have been tested. The National Guard conducted testing at the fairgrounds last week with over 300 people checked. Both Clinch Valley Medical Center and Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital administered vaccines to their employees during the week of Dec. 15-18.
The LENOWISCO and Cumberland Plateau Health Districts began conducting closed “point of dispensing” (POD) COVID-19 vaccination clinics Dec. 23 specifically for “Phase 1a” priority groups. These are the first who are eligible to receive the vaccine, and include health system personnel with direct contact or a high risk of contact with COVID-positive patients. Phase 1a includes emergency medical services, front-facing staff in primary care medical offices, dentists’ offices and others who provide direct health services in various settings, according to a press release from the health department.
The state started receiving vaccines from Moderna, the third one available last week. A total of 227,425 vaccines had been administered statewide as of Dec. 27. No one has yet received a second dose of the vaccine which is required.
The health department has started listing the vaccine totals on its daily dashboard along with all the other data. It compiles..