NC Officials Update COVID-19 Vaccine Schedule, Stress Equity

CHARLOTTE, NC — The White House Coronavirus Task Force is urging all North Carolinians who are 65 years old or older, or who have underlying health conditions to avoid any indoor space where people aren't wearing masks and have necessities like prescriptions and groceries delivered when possible, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday.

"The Task Force stresses that gatherings of people not wearing masks, public or private, simply are not safe," Cooper said in a news conference. "As our fatality numbers show starkly, this is a matter of life or death."

North Carolina reported 8,551 new COVID-19 cases and 155 deaths in the span of one day, increasing the state's death toll to 6,729. As of Dec. 30, about 14.8 percent of tests conducted in the state were positive, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

The news comes as health officials updated the state's vaccination prioritization list and are exploring methods to hold healthcare practitioners accountable to ensure no one cuts the line.

North Carolina hospitals reported 3,339 COVID-19 patients Wednesday, DHHS said. The filled hospital beds mean that the state now has about 16 percent of its staffed intensive care unit beds and about 22 percent of staffed inpatient hospital beds remaining available, according to DHHS data.

"We are setting records for the percent of tests that are positive. We've been at 14 percent for the past several days," with record numbers of patients hospitalized, DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said.

"The spread is so critical that the White House Coronavirus Task Force has issued stark warnings to North Carolina this week," Cohen said. Anyone under the age of 40 and who was part of a gathering outside their immediate household, "you need to assume you became infected with COVID, even if you don't have any symptoms," she said.

Vaccination Plan Underway

As of Wednesday, 63,571 people had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in North Carolina, according to DHHS data. Of those vaccinated, 80 percent were white, and 8 percent were black.

"There is work to do here to make sure we're distributing vaccines equitably," Cohen said. "There is an unfortunate, long-standing history of racial injustice that is built into our medical system, and we need to make sure that we are proactively trying to overcome that."

State health officials are working with health organization in historically marginalized communities to ensure they are getting good information about the vaccine, she said.

DHHS released Wednesday its updated and simplified the prioritization for vaccine distribution. According to officials, North Carolina is on track to receive about 120,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine each week throughout the month of January.

The state is currently vaccinating "Phase 1A," which includes healthcare workers and long-term care staff and residents who are at risk. By the week of Jan. 11, 2021, most healthcare providers will likely move into "Phase 1B", Cohen sadi. This phase, which could include up to 2 million North Carolinians, includes adults 75 years or older and frontline essential workers who are 50 years old or older, such as firefighters, police officers, grocery store workers and teachers.

The process of working through the vaccination prioritization list with the allotments provided to the state mean Phase 4, when vaccinations should be available for anyone who wants one, will likely not occur in the state until the Spring of 2021, Cohen said.

"We recognize that with a big effort like this, there are opportunities for someone to stray from that [prioritization], to jumping the line — whether it's a family member, a donor, a board member — and I'm particularly concerned about anyone profiting financially from this," Cohen said, adding that DHHS is in discussions about accountability with licensing boards and professional organizations.

Here is NCDHHS' updated timeline for vaccination rollout:

Phase 1A: Health care workers fighting COVID-19 & Long-Term Care staff and residents.

• Health care workers caring for and working directly with patients with COVID-19, including staff responsible for cleaning and maintenance in those areas
• Health care workers administering vaccine
• Long-term care staff and residents—people in skilled nursing facilities and in adult, family and group homes.

Phase 1b: Adults 75 years or older and frontline essential workers.

There is not enough vaccine for everyone in this phase to be vaccinated at the same time. Vaccinations will be available to groups in the following order.

• Group 1: Anyone 75 years or older, regardless of health status or living situation
• Group 2: Health care workers and frontline essential workers 50 years or older The CDC defines frontline essential workers as first responders (e.g., firefighters and police officers), corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, U.S. Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the education sector (teachers and support staff members) as well as child care workers.
• Group 3: Health care workers and frontline essential workers of any age

Phase 2: Adults at high risk for exposure and at increased risk of severe illness.
Vaccinations will happen by group in the following order:

• Group 1: Anyone 65-74 years old, regardless of health status or living situation
• Group 2: Anyone 16-64 years old with high-risk medical conditions that increase risk of severe disease from COVID such as cancer, COPD, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes, among others, regardless of living situation
• Group 3: Anyone who is incarcerated or living in other close group living settings who is not already vaccinated due to age, medical condition or job function.
• Group 4: Essential workers not yet vaccinated. The CDC defines these as workers in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, food service, shelter and housing (e.g., construction), finance (e.g., bank tellers), information technology and communications, energy, legal, media, and public safety (e.g., engineers), and public health workers.

Phase 3: Students

• College and university students
• K-12 students age 16 and over. Younger children will only be vaccinated when the vaccine is approved for them.

Phase 4: Everyone who wants a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination.