The Craven County Health Department turned 100 years old this year.
You may be tempted to only think of vaccinations and COVID records when you think about the department right now, but the health department has a much broader scope, serving as the county’s watchdog for everything from health to sanitation since its inception.
“January 25, 1921 is when it all started,’ Scott Harrelson, the department’s current director, said. The world had just gone through the Spanish Flu epidemic, which killed 50 million worldwide and 13,000 in North Carolina.
But the Flu was hardly the county’s only health problem at the time. “Even before the Spanish flu,” Harrelson said, “these guys painted this picture of New Bern years ago: there was no sewage system, they had rat Infestation, they had malaria in the area. They had yellow fever, they had typhoid, they had smallpox. They had nobody going out checking sanitation for food sources or water sources. They dumped their trash at the
Luzerne County officials are ready to establish a mass COVID-19 vaccination site as soon as the state Department of Health instructs them to do so, county Emergency Management Agency Director Lucy Morgan said Tuesday.
However, that will not happen for awhile, since the state is still in the early stages of its vaccination plan â and that plan is constantly evolving, Morgan said.
âEverything is fluid,â she said. âThe whole Covid response is fluid. There are many moving parts.â
The stateâs vaccination plan currently focuses on essential health care workers. Many of those vaccinations take place in hospitals or clinics, Morgan said.
By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
In this July 27, 2020 photo, nurse Kathe Olmstead gives volunteer Melissa Harting, of Harpersville, New York, an injection in Binghamton, New York, during a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.
AP file photo Listen to this
Pennsylvania will soon announce plans for the second phase of COVID-19 vaccinations covering those 75 and older and many essential workers, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday.
Known as “1B,” this phase includes vaccinations for law enforcement, fire/rescue and emergency services personnel, corrections officers, clergy and workers in public transit, grocery stores, education, manufacturing, the U.S. Postal Service and childcare and congregate-care facilities that were not part of the still-ongoing initial 1A phase.
Politicians underestimated this reporter. Bless their hearts.
Virginia Ellis was the first woman to lead this newsroomâs statehouse bureau. She died on Christmas Eve at 77.
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Virginia Ellis grew up with grandparents who instilled a sense of truth and justice in her, said her son, Barry Schnitt. It was something that was very core to her personality in all things. [ Courtesy Barry Schnitt ]
St. Petersburg Times newsroom met to hash out plans.
Bob Haiman, then managing editor, chose a handful of reporters to head into the storm.
Get rain gear, he told them,
cash, gas and tell your spouses youâll be gone for several days.
PLAINS TWP. â Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, hundreds of cars lined up at a regional drive-thru COVID-19 testing site that opened Friday outside Mohegan Sun Pocono.
The site officially opened at noon but some people came as early as 9 a.m. and by 2 p.m. more than 200 people received free testing, said Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency Director Lucy Morgan.
Up to 450 residents can receive free testing from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Tuesday, she said.
The state Department of Health contracted with AMI to do the testing. Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency and the sheriffâs department are assisting at the site.