Health and Medicine
Photo: CVS Health
The Virginia Department of Health’s new centralized COVID-19 vaccine preregistration system. We have a link to it online. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
See vaccine preregistration signup form below:
While state health officials work on vaccine signups, doctors and researchers are focusing more of their time studying the COVID-19 variants that have sprung up – and how to be deal with them. Scientists say the variants tend to spread more quickly and are more transmissible that the original COVID virus — so how do you stop it or at least slow it? Doctor Paul Skolnik is Chair of Medicine at Carilion Clinic, and he says the best way right now is getting a COVID-19 shot as soon as you can. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that the Virginia Tech at North Carolina men’s basketball game scheduled for Tuesday, February 16 has been postponed.
The postponement follows a positive test, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program. The team is adhering to the outlined protocols within the ACC Medical Advisory Group report, which is available on theACC.com.
The latest 24 hour reporting period for COVID-19 from the Virginia Department of Health shows 3215 new cases in Virginia. Locally that includes Montgomery County with 83 new cases, followed by Roanoke County with 71. 13 new cases in Salem, Roanoke City totals were actually adjusted downward by 19. Botetourt County reports 20 new COVID positive test results since yesterday.
The Virginia Department of Health plans to consolidate all the COVID-19 vaccination pre-registration sites into a single statewide system. It means the signups will be suspended from 5:00 this afternoon until Tuesday morning. So far, those registrations have all been on local health department sites, and over the weekend and through Monday, all those sites will shut down as they are consolidated into a single statewide system. The goal is to ensure that everyone who has already pre-registered for the vaccines has a proper place in line: WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
NEWS RELEASE: The Virginia Department of Health has directed local health districts to close their vaccination pre-registration forms Friday evening, in preparation to shift to a statewide system next week. During this time, existing waiting lists will be imported to the new system and pre-registration will be temporarily unavailable throughout Virginia. Pre-registration, through the new statewide system, will be available again on Tuesday, February 16.
Anyone who has previously filled out a survey or form or signed up for a waitlist to be vaccinated through their local health district, will be automatically imported into the new statewide system. Individuals will maintain their current status in the queue.
The statewide vaccine pre-registration system will provide a unified and comprehensive process for people in Virginia to pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Local pre-registration forms will close at 5 p.m. Friday, February 12. During the weekend, the Commonwealth will de-duplicate, clean, and consolidate the data from the local health district systems. In addition, data from the Virginia Immunization Information System will be used to remove individuals from the pre-registration list who have already been vaccinated.
For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia and the United States, and the Commonwealth’s ongoing efforts in the pandemic, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus and www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.
NEWS RELEASE: Due to inclement weather, the New River Health District vaccination clinic on Friday, February 12 will open at 10:30 a.m.
For anyone with an appointment between 9 and 10:30 a.m., please come 90 minutes later than your original appointment time. (For example, if you were scheduled at 9 a.m., please arrive at 10:30 a.m.; if you were scheduled for 10 a.m., please arrive at 11:30 a.m.) By spreading these morning appointments out, we can keep people safe and keep the wait time shorter.
If you are unable to come to the clinic on Friday, we will work you in the following week.
All signs point to federal approval of a third COVID-19 vaccine this month — a single-dose shot from Johnson and Johnson. But whenever it becomes available, a local expert says you should take any of the vaccines as soon as you get the chance. Doctor Paul Skolnik is Chair of Medicine at Carilion Clinic, there is no need or reason to wait for one brand or another. Skolnik says all show success as well in limiting the effects of the new COVID variants. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is expected to join the distribution pipeline in March. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones: