Knoxville health leaders reflect on COVID-19 response one year into pandemic
While there are areas of success within the health community, there were also shortcomings. Health leaders hope the community is on a bright path. Author: Katie Inman Updated: 7:03 PM EST March 11, 2021
KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. Health leaders in Knoxville are reflecting on the past year spent in a pandemic: the accomplishments, shortcomings and outlook in the medical field.
The first case of COVID-19 reported in Knox County came on March 12, 2020. Since then, the numbers of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths fluctuated through the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.
Knoxville and Knox County were marked as hotspots by the Centers for Disease Control beginning in the summer 2020 months.
Knox Co Board of Health moves to monthly meetings, extends alcohol curfew to 12 a m wbir.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbir.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
During the Knox County Board of Healthâs bi-weekly meeting Wednesday night, Dr. Martha Buchanan, senior director of the Knox County Health Department, said that the KCHD had inadvertently disposed of a tray of 975 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines that the department believes workers had confused with dry ice shipments.
âThe Pfizer vaccine comes in a pretty nondescript box and without.packing slips,â Buchanan said. âIt was a set of second dose vaccines that we had not been given advance notice that they were coming and it looked liked a pack of dry ice which they also ship.â
Most likely, the mistake was not simply the fault of the KCHD, but was also the result of technical failings on the part of Pfizer. In a media briefing earlier Tuesday afternoon, Buchanan said that the health department had requested an investigation from the state into how the various tracking and monitoring mechanisms had seemingly failed.