Public officials give updates on COVID-19
Public officials stress personal hygiene, individual responsibility, and remaining calm in the wake of COVID-19’s classification as a pandemic. With fear and chaos popping up on social media, the message from healthcare officials is to stay informed and not to panic.
As of Friday, March 13th, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports on their website that there is 1,629 cases of COVID-19 in the US, with 15 in North Carolina in areas near Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro.
“About 80 percent of patients with COVID have mild-to-moderate symptoms and can be managed at home,” stated David J. Weber, MD, MPH, of UNC Hospitals Division of Infectious Diseases on their website.
UNC Lenoir Health Care continues to prepare in collaboration with providers, UNC Health and the North Carolina Health and Human Services Department (NCDHHS) to ensure the safety and well-being of their patients, community and staff.
“For the elderly or those with chronic health conditions, the virus could be more impactful,” said Dr. Claire Paris, Chief Medical Officer, UNC Lenoir Health Care. COVID-19 has been declared a public health emergency by the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO) and NCDHHS.
Lenoir County created a webpage to help share relevant information.
”The County is taking proactive measures to protect the community, including working diligently with state partners,” stated Pam Brown, Lenoir County Health Director. “Although risk of contracting COVID-19 is low for our area, we understand that people are concerned. Fortunately, we have had no cases in Lenoir County, and there are steps that everyone can take to prevent or slow the spread of the disease, and we urge residents to take those precautions.”
Kinston Community Health Center works closely with the local health department, hospital, emergency management, and NCDHHS.
“Kinston Community Health Center, like others in the community, has been working diligently in reviewing our current policies and procedures and making changes to adapt to the current health emergency,” said Anna Kinsey, Director of Community Development at Kinston Community Health Center.
Events all over the country are being rescheduled or canceled. And there is a renewed emphasis on practicing hygiene like thorough hand washing and social distancing, intending to slow the spread of the virus.
“While the Center has not put any limits as to who can be provided care, we are implementing new pre-screening procedures for all of our staff to prevent infection,” said Kinsey.
The testing for COVID-19 is done by NCDHHS. The elderly and those with compromised immune systems are the most at risk.
“We are currently making decisions on how to get meals to our congregate clients as well as the Home Delivered Meals clients,” said Betsy Griffin, Executive Director of Lenoir County Council on Aging, Inc.
If the Council on Aging decides to close their nutrition sites, the goal will be to set up a drive-through to pick up meals for those who would have eaten on site. Home delivered meals would be frozen so they could deliver five meals to each home-bound client. They also have shelf-stable meals that would be handed out until the frozen meals became available.
The health leaders are taking direction from NCDHHS, who was unavailable for comment, CDC and WHO in an effort to combat the transmission of COVID-19.
