NC opens COVID vaccines to ages 65 and up. Here’s what that means for Charlotte

Hannah Smoot, Alison Kuznitz

On Thursday, the state announced it would open access to COVID-19 vaccines to anyone age 65 and older.

But in Mecklenburg, no county health clinic appointments are available, Mecklenburg County Medical Director Meg Sullivan said. All appointments through the end of January have already been booked, Sullivan said.

Once the county gets access to more COVID-19 vaccines, appointments will be opened for people ages 65 to 74. However, most residents will have to wait months to get their first COVID-19 vaccine shots, Sullivan said.

The exact timeline is still uncertain, and weekly shipments to health departments are constantly in flux.

Mecklenburg’s key coronavirus metrics, including the new daily caseload and hospitalizations, have sharply increased after holiday gatherings.

Those trends prompted Public Health Director Gibbie Harris to issue a non-binding directive this week, asking residents to stay home as much as possible. The directive was issued the same day a 22-year-old died from COVID-19 in Mecklenburg — the youngest coronavirus death in the county to date.

“If we continue to operate as we are right now, our numbers will stay high,” Harris said.

But some county commissioners are skeptical the recommendations can effectively blunt the explosive surge of cases following holiday gatherings.

Meanwhile, Mecklenburg County Public Health, along with both of Charlotte’s hospital systems, Atrium Health and Novant Health, have been offering vaccinations to anyone age 75 and over, along with health care workers and long-term care facility staff and residents before the state’s latest update.

‘Best birthday present’

As of Thursday, vaccinations for patients ages 65 to 74 are underway at Atrium.

Diana Lassahn turned 72 on Wednesday. And on Thursday, she got her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Atrium, calling it “the best birthday present I could ever ever have gotten.”

Novant will begin vaccinating people age 65 and up as supply becomes available. But Novant doctors have said the hospital system will need more doses of the COVID vaccine to make the increase in access possible.

The hospital system is asking the state to send 95,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per week. If the hospital system receives that amount, Novant said, it will be able to administer 1 million doses across the state by the beginning of April.

Mecklenburg immunizations

Mecklenburg has administered more than 5,200 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in total, Sullivan said.

Public Health receives two trays of the Pfizer vaccine each week, which contain 1,950 doses. So far, the county has not received shipments of the Moderna vaccine, which is easier to store and transport.

Thursday’s press briefing — the third update of the week — came hours after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School board voted to stay in remote learning through at least Feb. 12 as infection rates swell across the county and state.

Also Thursday, the state unveiled its new group plan for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. The simplified plan immediately expands access to coronavirus shots to anyone age 65 and older.

The new groups are:

▪ Group 1: health care workers and long-term care staff and residents

▪ Group 2: Anyone age 65 and older

▪ Group 3: Frontline essential workers

▪ Group 4: Adults at high risk for exposure and increased risk of severe illness

▪ Group 5: Everyone

The state is currently offering vaccines to anyone in groups 1 and 2.

Officials are still determining eligibility criteria for frontline workers and other broad categories of people included in later vaccination groups. “Hopefully we can move into that group as quickly as possible,” Sullivan said.

COVID-19 vaccinations

Mecklenburg is now working with major Charlotte businesses, including Atrium Health and Panthers owner David Tepper, to set up mass COVID-19 vaccination sites.

The public-private partnership, which includes Honeywell, Atrium, Tepper Sports & Entertainment and the Charlotte Motor Speedway, aims to administer 1 million vaccinations by July 4, according to statements from the companies.

Mass vaccination clinics will be set up at the Bank of America Stadium and the motor speedway.

Mandy Cohen, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, applauded the partnership. But she emphasized vaccine supplies are still limited.

“Even if we vaccinated everyone today with the vaccine we have in the state, we would still be at somewhere like 6% of our entire population,” Cohen said.

Novant also announced plans on Thursday to open new mass vaccination clinics across the state — including a potential site at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.

Worsening trends

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in Mecklenburg, hospitals are calling on residents to keep wearing masks and following guidelines.

Coronavirus trends are now starting to show the full effect of Christmas and New Years gatherings, David Callaway, Atrium chief of operational and disaster medicine, said in a video posted on Atrium’s Facebook page.

“We’ve got it under control right now, but (hospitalizations) are going up,” Callaway said. “We can’t be like hospitals around the country that are overflowing and shutting down because they have too many COVID patients.”

Mecklenburg logged 993 new coronavirus cases on Thursday — bringing the cumulative tally to 74,470, N.C DHHS reported. Last Sunday, the county hit a new single-day record jump in cases: 1,309.

On average, the county is adding 900 new cases each day, according to an Observer analysis of public health data. Officials say 675 residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.

“We have way too much virus in our community right now,” Harris said Thursday.

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