All North Carolinians aged 65 and older are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, a change that affects nearly a quarter of the population in Moore County.
The new criteria was announced just two days after the county began vaccinating residents age 75 and older under Phase 1B of the N.C. Department of Health and Humans Servicesâ four-stage inoculation plan. The expanded eligibility reflects the latest guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to the state.Â
But administering the vaccine to a bigger pool of older adults will be a difficult undertaking in Moore County, which is home to a large number of senior citizens.
Army veteran and retired firefighter Tony Trolio was more than happy to roll-up his sleeve on Tuesday as one of the first community members to receive the coronavirus vaccine as part of Operation FirstShot.
âIâm in the age group that is real susceptible and Iâm diabetic. I wanted to get the vaccine as soon as possible,â Trolio said.
Tony Trolio gives the thumbs up after receiving the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday. Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot
FirstHealth of the Carolinas and Pinehurst Medical Clinic began contacting a prioritized list of eligible patients aged 75 and older last week to schedule appointments. Weekly vaccine clinics are tentatively scheduled every Tuesday and Wednesday at the Fair Barn in Pinehurst through the summer; however, the number of doses available each week will be determined by the stateâs allocation process.
Moore County has been placed under the most serious tier of the stateâs COVID-19 County Alert System.
Developed by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the system uses color-coded tiers to identify counties where the virus is spreading most aggressively. Moore is now among the 65 counties included in the red tier, which denotes âcritical community spread.â
Counties are categorized based on âcase rates, the percent of tests that are positive and hospital impact within the county,â according to DHHS. Twenty-seven counties are included under the orange tier, which is reserved for counties experiencing âsubstantial community spread,â while eight counties are under the yellow tier, which denotes âsignificant community spread.â
The coronavirus continues to spread unabated in Moore County, where laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassed 4,000 on Thursday.
A total of 4,032 cases have been linked to the county since March, according to the local health department. The latest four-digit milestone was reached amid a surge that started shortly after Thanksgiving.Â
Over 940 cases have been reported in the past two weeks alone. Those infections account for about 23 percent of the countyâs total cases.
Some of the growth can be attributed to outbreaks in long-term care facilities. The virus has ravaged places like The Greens, a 120-bed nursing home in Pinehurst.Â
Patricia Watson is among the 82 elderly residents of the nursing home who tested positive earlier this month, albeit after she initially tested negative. She was well-known in the village, having served as president of the erstwhile Sandhills Little Theatre before retiring in 1996.