Public health shifts its resources
With availability of the COVID-19 vaccine likely to increase, Georgia’s public health districts close down free testing sites
The Northwest Health District division of Georgia’s Department of Public Health will officially stop free COVID-19 testing this month as they prepare to focus more of their resources on vaccinations.
“We have to provide immunizations and we have limited resources available to not only continue maintaining the essential health department services... but also we’re having to devote more and more resources to immunization,” the Northwest Health District’s spokesperson Logan Boss said.
The agency rolled out district wide testing sites, despite continued state cuts, as the pandemic hit Georgia last year and leaders quickly became household names.
The mass testing ran into bumps as the agency waded through issues like a lack of available tests as well as finding reliable labs to process those results.
Regardless, the public came to depend on public health for reliable COVID-19 testing as hospitals and healthcare providers caught up with the demand.
“We administered about 150,000 tests in all 10 of our counties,” Boss said.
They were initially using almost all of their employees at the testing sites, Boss said, including clinical and clerical employees as well as restaurant inspectors.
“We eventually evolved into contracting with private providers to operate the testing sites,” he said.
With little demand for testing in recent months, Boss said they felt that the time was right to discontinue the sites and focus on vaccinations.
Starting this month, the DPH plans to “ramp up” immunization and work more closely with local hospitals and clinics in setting up vaccination sites.
However vaccine availability remains spotty. Georgia has been struggling with vaccine distribution over the last two months, as supplies remains sporadic in quantity and delivery.
However, in Floyd County alone, over 32,000 vaccines have been administered.
With the new single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine nearing likely approval next month, Boss feels that the vaccination process will be simplified.
U.S. health advisers endorsed approval of that vaccine Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic. In the third trial phase, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine came out to be 66% overall effective in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19.
“This has been something we’ve been eagerly anticipating,” Boss said.
The agency is still waiting on details and instructions from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office on the expanded availability to teachers and children with special needs and their providers. Kemp announced he would be opening up the vaccination process to teachers and caregivers last week.
“We expect those details to be forth coming next week,” Boss said. “We do know that that will require even more of our resources to be allocated to vaccinations.”
Once the vaccine supply chain is able to meet the demand, Boss said public health will officially begin working on more vaccination sites — such as a mass vaccination site.
The use of State Mutual Stadium, because of its large open parking area, has been brought up as a potential site. Boss said no site has been confirmed at this point.