State of emergency extended for long-term care facilities
Thursday morning is the most hectic day of the week at Skrip Shoppe Pharmacy. Customers start trickling in to receive their scheduled COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot, and the staff prepare to tackle the long day ahead.
With Oglethorpe County’s community transmission rate currently designated as “high” by the CDC, local health care experts hope that recent approval of the booster shot will bring another level of protection to the population.
The pharmacy, founded in 1980 by University of Georgia graduate Carlos Rodriguez-Feo, serves residents of Oglethorpe County and surrounding areas. Skrip Shoppe Pharmacy is offering COVID-19 vaccinations by appointment, including administration of booster shots.
At the time of writing, 45% of Oglethorpe County residents received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 42% of residents fully vaccinated, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health Vaccine Distribution Dashboard.
“For the COVID vaccines, we schedule them on Thursdays,” Rodriguez-Feo said. “We usually try to do (the appointments) in multiples of 10. Generally 20 or 30 will get scheduled on any given Thursday.”
To schedule an appointment, call Skrip Shoppe Pharmacy at (706) 743-5477. The seasonal flu shot is also available any day of the week.
Those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines are eligible for the booster shot if aged 65 years or older, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. People aged 18 years or older are also eligible for the booster if they live in long-term care settings, have underlying medical conditions or work or live in high-risk settings. The booster should only be taken at least six months following administration of the second dose.
For those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine, the waiting period for a booster shot is two months after vaccination. All people aged 18 years or older are eligible.
In both instances, any of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for distribution in the United States can be safely administered as a booster. Skrip Shoppe Pharmacy and the Oglethorpe County Health Department are both administering booster shots on a limited basis.
While cases are still occurring in Oglethorpe County, Emergency Medical Services Director Jason Lewis said COVID-19’s toll on the community appears to be dwindling.
“Our overall call volume remains relatively steady, some of those due to the COVID long-haulers that we have. We’re hoping to see vaccination numbers rise when there’s more of a wider age range that’s eligible,” Lewis said. “With all of the mitigation strategies that we have in place locally, we’re excited that the numbers are down.”
Long-haulers is a term used to describe those who do not fully recover from COVID-19 and have lingering symptoms.
Care facilities cautious
Many sectors of the economy are resuming regular operations, but others are still experiencing pandemic-related regulations. Specifically, the state of emergency for long-term care facilities in Georgia was recently extended until January.
Residents of Quiet Oaks Health Care are tested once per week and staff are tested twice per week. Only essential employees are permitted inside the facility, and no communal dining or social activities are allowed. Outdoor visits with residents cannot last longer than 30 minutes. Masks and social distancing are required.
Despite these limitations, Social Services Director Chris Wrenn and the Quiet Oaks staff are trying to maintain some degree of normalcy for residents.
“We are doing drive-up visits and window visits, things of that nature to try to maintain the relationship between the families and the residents,” Wrenn said. “We’re trying to find ways — I guess creative ways — to make sure that our residents’ (lives are) as normal as possible.”