Granville adds 2 COVID-19 testing sites

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There are two additional places in Granville County to get free testing for COVID-19, thanks to a collaboration between Granville County Public Schools and OptumServe, an agency contracting with the state of North Carolina to administer the test.

The Mary Potter Center for Education in Oxford and Butner-Stem Middle School in Butner are open several days each week, according to information from GCPS.

Butner-Stem Middle School, located at 501E. D St., Butner is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enter the clinic at the bus entrance. Mary Potter Center for Education, located at 200 Taylor St., Oxford, is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enter at the rear of the building at the gym entrance. Schedule an appointment for either site at  lhi.care/covidtesting.

Because the location is subject to change, anyone interested in getting tested should visit https://lhi.care/covidtesting for the latest location information. Call (877) 562-4850 if you do not have internet or are registering for a minor.

Anyone who meets the testing criteria can be tested at an OptumServe community testing site, including uninsured, underinsured, undocumented and homeless individuals. OptumServe will generate a unique identification number for individuals who do not have a driver’s license, according to information from OptumServe.

Local News Audio

WIZS Local News 03-05-21 Noon

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WIZS Your Community Voice — 100.1 FM / 1450 AM

Click Play for today’s Local News Audio.

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Local News Airs on WIZS M-F at 8 a.m., 12 Noon and 5 p.m.

“TownTalk” Airs on WIZS M-F at 11 a.m.

“The Local Skinny!” Airs on WIZS Mon-Thurs at 11:30 a.m.

 

Vance County Schools Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration 2021-2022

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According to the Vance County Schools motto, “The Wow Starts Now!”

Public Information Officer Aarika Sandlin wrote in a news release, “We are excited to kick off our registration for Pre-K and Kindergarten students!”

She indicated there will be virtual information sessions taking place on March 10 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.  This is “for EVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in our district,” she wrote.

In fact, each school will host its very own information session, and the links are available on the district website at www.vcs.k12.nc.us.

Sandlin said, “We are excited for the newest additions making their way to the VCS family!”

City of Oxford Staff Receive COVID-19 Vaccinations

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— information courtesy of the City of Oxford, NC

On Wednesday, City of Oxford staff took steps to receive covid-19 vaccinations.  The event took place at the Oxford City Hall Auditorium.  The vaccinations were administered now that Phase 3 is underway in North Carolina, which allows frontline workers to get the shots.

In attendance, among others, were City Manager Alan Thornton and Parks and Recreation Director Tina Cheek.  Thornton said in a news release as to why he decided to receive the vaccine, “I and the City believe it is important to receive the vaccine and encourage everyone to do so when the opportunity arises.”  He extended appreciation to Granville Healthy Systems and Granville Vance Public Health for all of their hard work during this time.

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SportsTalk 03-04-21 Hunter Jenks, Chris Edwards, Greg George

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Trey Snide and Ron Noel welcomed Vance Co. Head Football Coach Hunter Jenks, Duke Radio play by play announcer Chris Edwards and Granville Central Head Basketball and Soccer Coach Greg George on SportsTalk on Thursday.

Jenks, whose Vance Co. Vipers came up on the wrong end of a 42 – 6 score against Chapel Hill on Friday, said of the first game of the season, “We are never happy with losing.” He said four turnovers and too many plays on defense sealed the teams fate. The Vipers’ defense was on the field for 80 plays during the loss.  Even though the Vipers lost by a large margin Jenks said, “By and large, with the first game, I was happy with the defensive side of the ball.”

Jenks explained that practices this week have been good as they prepare to take on Southern Durham on March 12. For that game Jenks hopes his offense will do a much better job at protecting the football. “Don’t be afraid to win the game on the last play of the game,” Jenks said when talking about what he has told his team this week. He said he has already seen improvement and hopes to see more consistency as the team moves through the season.

The game against Southern Durham will be the first road game for the Vipers and can be heard over WIZS radio beginning at 6:30 on Friday, March 12.

During the second part of the show, Chris Edwards talked about Duke baseball and what it has been like to not have games for the past eleven months. He said he missed little things like sunsets from the stadium that he won’t take for granted again. Duke has a weekend series against Pittsburgh. Edwards said it would be a big challenge for the Blue Devils since Pittsburgh just swept Florida St.

In regards to the ACC as a whole, “The ACC will beat up on each other,” Edwards said. He also feels that the ACC has a legitimate chance to have all fourteen teams in the NCAA tournament. Edwards says we will know more about how the teams will shake out after a month of, “beating up on each other.”

Currently, Duke is 4 – 4 on the season and are, “still trying to figure stuff out,” said Edwards. Much of Duke’s success will depend on the team’s bullpen figuring out its role.

In the third part of SportsTalk, Greg George of Granville Central spoke about the success of his JV team. He said the “JV team exceeded expectations. We keep trying to build it because that’s what lays the foundation for the varsity program going forward.”

George says it is challenging to coach so many different programs but he has a great support system with the staff and other coaches at the school. Currently Granville Central is number one in the conference with its soccer program. He said the disruption to the normal athletic schedules because of Covid has leveled the playing field for all of the schools in the conference. Lastly, George commented that the Granville Central football program is making great strides this season. Granville Central will take on county rival J. F. Webb on Friday night.

For full audio and complete details click play.

 

Cooperative Extension with Jamon Glover 03-04-21 – Permissive Parenting Style

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 2 PM Monday – Thursday.

“The Local Skinny!” Mar. 4; Register for Mar. 18 WOVEN Workshop

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Women in the area have a chance to learn how Dr. Kayla McHale, with Henderson Wellness, can help make “healthy the new ‘happy’” at a virtual workshop sponsored by Women of Vance Empowered Networking.

Sandra Wilkerson, administrator of events for the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, spoke with John C. Rose on The Local Skinny Thursday about the first meeting of 2021 for WOVEN, set for Thursday, Mar. 18 at noon. She said about 40 people are registered so far, but there’s room for more. Send Wilkerson an email at sandra@hendersonvance.org to register.

“The topic is something we can all pay attention to,” Wilkerson said. If ‘healthy is the new ‘happy,’ then there may be some areas to address, from getting a good night’s sleep to knowing which supplements may be best. She said McHale’s “pep talk” is sure to have something for everyone interested in staying young and healthy at any age.

“As women in the work force,” she said, “a lot of us were working from home, and we didn’t have that more comfortable chair to sit in.” The chairs around a dining table aren’t meant for all-day comfort. “We’ve probably overlooked some of the health issues that we were paying attention to in our office.

More than anything else, she said, the workshop will be about “simply taking care of you. Sometimes we just forget about “us.” It’s time to reflect again about taking care of ourselves,” Wilkerson added.

The seminar should last about an hour, and will include time for questions.

WOVEN, established in 2019, brings together businesswomen throughout the community and provides the opportunity for networking and to share successes and goals with one another.

“The biggest and greatest part of all this is networking,” Wilkerson said.

The Mar. 18 seminar is the first quarterly meeting of 2021. The group did not meet in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.

McHale has a degree in Exercise Science from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, her home state. She was a four-year starter on the Huskies’ Division II softball team. She got a master’s degree in athletic training and worked with professional athletes before returning to school to become a chiropractor. Her approach to treating the body is addressing the cause of dysfunction rather than solely treating the symptoms in order to restore function and promote long-term relief.

 

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TownTalk 03-04-21 Covid 19, Vance County Schools

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Host John C. Rose discusses Covid 19, the vaccine and the effects on Vance Co. Schools.

For full details and complete audio click play.

 

Granville Vance Public Health Logo

COVID-19 Update: March 4, 2021

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— courtesy of Granville Vance Public Health

There have been 5,263 cases of COVID-19 in Granville County and 4,391 cases of COVID-19 in Vance County for a total of 9,654 across the health district.

Sadly, there have been 76 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in Granville County and 81 deaths in Vance County.

As our focus shifts to vaccine efforts, we will begin reporting updates about the numbers vaccinated in each of our counties. This information, as well as demographic information, can also be found at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/vaccinations.

Vance County

Total Doses Administered: 11,485
First Doses Administered: 7,091
Second Doses Administered: 4,394

Percentage of Population Received 1st Dose: 15.9%
Percentage of Population Received 2nd Dose: 9.9%

 

Granville County

Total Doses Administered: 16,028
First Doses Administered: 10,226
Second Doses Administered: 5,802

Percentage of Population Received 1st Dose: 16.9%
Percentage of Population Received 2nd Dose: 9.6%

We encourage you to visit the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard. Relevant graphs from these dashboards are available on our website at https://gvph.org/covid-19_dashboard/.

Lisa Harrison, local health director, wrote in email correspondence:

“March is the one-year-mark for this pandemic – this was the first week in 2020 we had a positive case in NC.

“I was asked to speak at a public health class at UNC via zoom this evening and it was helpful reflection time – it’s important to pause, take a deep breath, and share the incredible work happening locally with vaccine distribution on top of the work we have been doing all year long. Public health workforce stories are the best to be able to tell.

“One of the things I shared with the students is how public health work is not ever very predictable. It’s a pretty huge adventure and different each day regardless of pandemic status. But for this year, check out how our last 52 weeks have gone:

“As a team, GVPH has managed A LOT of CHANGE. I’m still blown away by the hard-working people who remain dedicated after this much intense work day in and day out, week in and week out. They continue to impress me and so many others in our community.

“There are a few points we would like you to know as we chart the path forward to the other side:

  • We continue to provide dose 1 and dose 2 vaccine clinics weekly in direct response to the number of doses we receive from the state. Please understand that we receive an email on Thursday each week that tells us how much we will receive the following week, and, barring any bad icy weather issues, we usually receive that shipment in each location on Tuesday each week. Then, we have until the following Monday to ensure every dose is used and accounted for in the COVID Vaccine Management System (CVMS). That means on Friday, we plan for the week ahead and are only at that point able to really determine the need for larger clinics versus smaller clinics, and calculate the staff needed in each location for dose 1 clinics and dose 2 clinics. As much as we LIKE to plan well, this situation doesn’t give us a long runway of planning time each week. We’re moving fast!
  • Larger clinics off site are much more complex to manage because of the supplies, staffing, support, and electronic data entry that must be accomplished for registration and vaccine documentation. It’s MUCH easier to conduct vaccine clinics in our fixed locations in Henderson and Oxford where our materials, staff, and support are all easy-access. We only have larger clinics off-site when we have more vaccine than we can get rid off each day in each location. Eventually, when we have steady, predictable and manageable amounts of vaccine to roll into our other duties, we will be able to take our mobile unit out to places in the two counties for easier access, but for now, the best we are able to manage is clinics in both counties regularly.
  • Now that we have made it through a good portion of Group 1, Group 2, and educators and school staff, we are moving into Group 3 full-force this week and next. (See more details about who qualifies for Group 3 here.)
  • The best way to register for our vaccine clinics is via our hotline at 252-295-1503. We’re hoping to launch an online booking option in the next couple of weeks so you can also check our website at https://gvph.org/covidvaccines/.
  • We have had some excellent assistance from our NC National Guard Team deployed to help NC vaccine efforts and are so grateful for their contributions in vaccine clinics as well as registration on the hotline! Thank you NCNG!
  • We are hosting double-duty (Friday) tomorrow with an all day clinic in Henderson together with Vance County Schools, Maria Parham, and Emergency Management Partners, as well as having another clinic in Granville with our school nurses and volunteers at our usual Friday location. Send our teams lots of energy and hopefully the sun will continue to shine.

“As always, than you for your ongoing support and expressions of kindness. We are all incredibly grateful for community!!!”