Cobb Coronavirus Vaccine Call Center Expected By Early April

COBB COUNTY, GA — Cobb County residents will soon have a coronavirus vaccine call center to field questions and help get vaccine appointments.

Cobb board members approved a $2 million contract at the March 9 board meeting — using Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money — for the Cobb Emergency Management Agency to establish a COVID-19 vaccination call center and purchase customer support software. The motion was approved in a 4-1 vote.

This contract approval comes just one day after Georgia expanded vaccine eligibility to primary and secondary school staff and faculty, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and caregivers of children with complex medical conditions.

"As vaccinations become more available to more of our public, the demand to answer questions, schedule appointments and provide additional outreach will drastically increase," Cobb EMA Director Cassie Mazloom said. "The call center will ensure that Cobb citizens receive the most up-to-date information available, appointments and guidance on how they can continue to remain safe in this pandemic."

The call center is expected to be running by the first week of April, in an attempt to get ahead of further vaccine eligibility expansion from Gov. Brian Kemp, Mazloom said. It will serve as a "one-stop shop" for Cobb residents to ask questions and get help scheduling vaccine appointments, which Board Chair Lisa Cupid and Commissioners Jerica Richardson and JoAnn Birrell said has been a constant issue for Cobb residents.

"We have been fielding a lot of calls and also criticism [by] a number of our constituents who have not been able to get vaccinated because of the complexity of having to go online and literally wait, or continue trying and refresh, staying up until early morning hours to try and get vaccinated," Cupid said. "I think we have some responsibility to make sure we are making our vaccinations accessible to all who are here in Cobb, and I think we have some responsibility to make sure we are doing what we can on the front end."

However, Commissioner Keli Gambrill — who was the sole member who voted against the contract approval — said there was no data breakdown of how many COVID-19-related calls the county has received, which contributed to her reason for voting against the measure.

"I know yesterday I had requested data, and from the information in the email that you provided, you couldn't break down the data as far as COVID-19 calls received," Gambrill said to Mazloom. "I find this hard to justify a $2 million expenditure ... when we don't have the supporting data to go behind that."

Gambrill also said she did not see this as a viable expense since many residents have been going elsewhere to get vaccinated, and not always going through Cobb & Douglas Public Health.

"We don't care where you get a test, we just want you to know where it is," Mazloom said. "This is definitely an advancement that will help us."

Commissioners approved the call center just after hearing Dr. Janet Memark, health director of the CDPH, discuss the "extremely high" coronavirus transmission rate for Cobb County. Memark cited March 8 data showing there were 356 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 Cobb residents.

"We are between three and four times what is considered 'high transmission' for this virus, so we have a little bit of breathing room but it's not time to let down our guard quite yet" Memark said. "This battle we are waging right now is a battle of time of whether we can get as many vaccines into arms as possible and beat the number of variants that are coming through."

Memark said Georgia has reported 171 cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant from the United Kingdom — but she said this is a "huge undercount" as the state tests a "very, very small number" for the variant.

Three cases of the variant from South Africa have been found in Georgia as well, which Memark said is also an undercount. The key to preventing another outbreak is a combination of prevention and vaccination, Memark said.