Tag Archive for: #wizsnews

The Local Skinny! COVID-19 Update

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There aren’t as many people routinely wearing face masks as there were this time last year, which is one indication that things are improving on the COVID-19 front. Or, perhaps people are just plain tired of wearing masks.

But public health professionals study and analyze the public’s health from a variety of perspectives to make sure people stay as safe as possible from disease. It’s important to know the why’s and wherefore’s, but the bottom line is that fewer cases of COVID-19 places both Vance and Granville counties are in the low community level.

Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison and her staff continue to monitor both counties and stay updated on the latest information available.

Both counties, like much of the rest of the state, experienced a real spike in cases in January 2022, but the numbers had begun inching upward by November of 2021. By March 2022, the number of cases had dropped again to about the same levels that were being recorded before the winter surge.

As winter approaches, staying up-to-date on COVID-19 boosters is important, as is getting a flu shot.

Harrison spelled out in her regular COVID-19 update that health professionals must look at indicators other than just numbers of cases.

“Case numbers are not as reliable an indicator as they once were – people can use at-home testing kits and do not report those test results to public health,” she said.

Vaccinations and the all-important boosters also lower the risk of severe illness and death, she said, so looking at trends over time offers a more complete view.

Data indicators that health professionals look at include:

  • Virus particles found in wastewater
  • Emergency room visits for COVID symptoms
  • Health system strain and hospitalizations from COVID-19
  • Vaccines and boosters
  • Surveillance of new Variants
  • CDC COVID-19 community levels by county

And while it’s good news that both counties are in the low community level, Harrison included the following sobering statistics:

Vance County has had 14,655 COVID-19 cases and Granville County has reported 18,006. As for deaths from COVID -19, Vance County reports 130 and Granville County reports 124.

Vaccinations by the numbers:

 

Vance County

  • 68 percent of those over the age of 5 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 63 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete
  •  5 percent have received the new booster
  • 24 percent of those ages 5-11 have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 18 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete
  • 52 percent of those ages 12-17 have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 45 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete

Granville County

  • 71 percent of those over 5 years have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 67 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete
  • 6 percent have had the new booster
  • 26 percent of those 5-11 years have had have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 22 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete
  • 45 percent of those 12-17 years have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
  • 42 percent are vaccinated with initial series complete

Visit the CDC Data Tracker by County and the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard. Relevant graphs from these dashboards are available on our website at https://gvph.org/covid-19_dashboard/.

Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Kudzu Bugs

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Construction Of New Senior Center For Northern Granville To Begin In 2023

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County officials joined Stovall town commissioners Thursday at the future site of the North Granville Senior Center in Stovall.

The new 8,000-square foot center will be located at 301 Oxford St. in Stovall, adjacent to the Stovall Branch Library.

Construction of the new facility is scheduled for 2023.

The current senior center is located at 318 U.S. Highway 15 South in Stovall and will remain open until the new facility is ready.

“The existing site has served its purpose,” said Commissioner Chairman Tony Cozart. “But the time has come for Granville County to expand services in Stovall to match what can be found at  the Granville County Senior Center in Oxford and South Granville Senior Center in Creedmoor,” Cozart said.

In addition to Cozart, commissioners David Smith, Zelodis Jay and Sue Hinman spoke about the project.

“We know this center will help so many people in northern Granville County,” Smith said.  “This new site will be so much safer without our seniors having to make that dangerous turn off Highway 15 into a very tight parking lot. Being in the middle of downtown next to other public services like the Stovall Branch Library, town hall, the U.S. Post Office, and the Stovall Medical Center will help make downtown Stovall a service hub for our northern Granville residents.”

Jay said he looks forward to construction beginning in the coming months. “Commissioner Smith and I have worked on this for years,” Jay told those gathered. “Before the district lines changed, we both represented Stovall. Even though Stovall is no longer my district, I still consider it to part of District 1 at heart.”

“Building a new Senior Center in northern Granville County has been a top priority of mine since I was first elected,” said Hinman. “Even though my district doesn’t include Stovall, I have always made a point of advocating that our Senior Services Department equally serve all parts of Granville County.”

Phyllis Blackwell, the center’s manager, can be reached at 919.693.3383 or phyllis.blackwell@granvillecounty.org.

Fire Ants: How To Manage Them, Not E

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The wet weather associated with Hurricane Ian a few weeks ago has really allowed the red imported fire ants (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, to thrive. It seems everywhere you look you see a large mound of soil, and even if you barely come in contact with it, those small red pests swarm out.

If you are familiar with them, either by sight and by sting, you know they can be quite troublesome and they are not easily controlled,” according to Johnny Coley, horticulture agent for Granville and Person counties.

“When you have RIFAs move into your yard or landscape, managing them is usually the best you can hope for. Once you think you have them under control, five to ten more hills show up,” Coley said in a written statement about the stinging insects.

Although native to South America, fire ants were introduced to the U.S. in the 1930’s and were first found in North Carolina in the early 1950’s. They are now mainly found in the Southeast. Mounds can have more than 100,000 workers and hundreds of winged adults but only one queen. Winged adults will mate and, after mating with females, spin off their own queens and can produce their own nest. A queen can fly up to 10 miles from its original mound; however, most queens do not travel that far. Most queens do not survive once they have mated because other foraging ants, especially other fire ants, will kill them.

Several methods can be used to control fire ants including baits, granular insecticides, drenches and powders.  Rotating insecticides with different active ingredients is always the best practice. This will prevent fire ants from becoming resistant to a particular active ingredient.

For a comprehensive list of active ingredients/products that are available for fire ant control and more general  information about RIFAs please visit: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/red-imported-fire-ant-in-north-carolina

You may also contact Johnny Coley at the Granville or Person County Extension offices at 919.603.1350 (Granville) or  336.599.1195 (Person) or by email at johnny_coley@ncsu.edu for a copy of this publication.

TownTalk: Hauntings Of Old Granville

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One of the reasons the stately old home known as Cedar Walk in Williamsboro fell into disrepair was because of the ghost that inhabited the premises.

And the Neal House in Epsom rode the poltergeist wave right in the early ‘80s, about the time the movie of the same name was popular – you know, objects flying around, dishes flung from their shelves.

And then there’s the legend of “Hatchet Man,” who wanders the general area of Oxford Road near the local country club.

Mark Pace and Bill Harris talked about these phenomena – and more – during Thursday’s tri-weekly history show on TownTalk.

Did prominent physician Hutchins Burton really haunt Cedar Walk? Who knows. But according to the writings of local historian S.T. Peace, Burton was hanged in the house, Pace said. And members of families who later lived in the house reported hearing all kinds of strange noise over the years, and seeing a ghost in the hallway downstairs.

“It got to the point,” Pace said, “that nobody wanted to rent the house.” And, unoccupied, it fell into ruin.

Whether you’re one who believes in the supernatural or chooses to find logical explanations for the seemingly inexplicable, the stories you hear – especially around Halloween – are interesting, to say the least.

The house known as Pleasant Hill in Middleburg, later called Rivenoak, was purchased by a young couple who moved in and set about restoration work, which including wiring it for electricity for the first time.

Joel Holloman Carroll was born in that home and lived his entire life there. He was a real creature of habit, and was known to strike a match against the same door frame near the kitchen each evening to light a lamp before before bedtime.

Carroll died there, and during the restoration, passersby would swear they saw a light shining through his bedroom window. The young couple’s ebullient Golden Retriever refused to cross the area that led to that same bedroom. And the couple’s young child would remark about a man standing nearby when there was nobody there.

  1. You could possibly explain those away – the light was a reflection from something, the dog was just being, well, a dog. And a child can have a vivid imagination.

And Hatchet Man?  The story goes that if you go over to the country club section of town into a particular area that once had been a dead end, dirt road, and cut off your car, Hatchet Man would show up, Pace said.

  1. Maybe that’s someone’s overactive imagination or maybe that was a story created to keep pesky teenagers off manicured greens.

But what about the poltergeist of Neal House?

“Dishes move, things fly off the table – literally fly-through-the-air kind of stuff,” Pace said. He was a student at ECU when he read a story in the student paper about the home.

“It was really active stuff,” he said, recalling some of the stories being told about that house.

 

Hear more stories in the full interview at wizs.com

 

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Warren County Getting Slice Of $17.5M Grant To Establish High-Speed Internet Connections

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Warren County residents are going to reap the benefits of part of $17.5 million in grant funding to create high-speed internet connections for thousands of its residents.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released information Thursday stating that AccessOn Networks Inc. is getting the money to connect residents, businesses, farms and educational facilities in Warren and Halifax counties in North Carolina as part of $759 million in loans and grants awarded in the third funding round of the federal ReConnect Program.

The company will make high-speed internet service affordable by participating in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs, according to a USDA press release. This project will serve socially vulnerable communities in Halifax and Warren counties and people in the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal Statistical Area.

“People living in rural towns across the nation need high-speed internet to run their businesses, go to school and connect with their loved ones,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “USDA partners with small towns, local utilities and cooperatives, and private companies to increase access to high-speed internet so people in rural America have the opportunity to build brighter futures. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA is committed to making sure that people, no matter where they live, have access to high-speed internet. That’s how you grow the economy – not just in rural communities, but across the nation.”

To be eligible for ReConnect Program funding, an applicant must serve an area that does not have access to service at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) (download) and 20 Mbps (upload). The applicant must also commit to building facilities capable of providing high-speed internet service with speeds of 100 Mbps (download and upload) to every location in its proposed service area.

To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov or contact the nearest USDA Rural Development state office.

The Local Skinny! Sip And Stroll With The Souls

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Looking for a way to get into the “spirit” of All Hallows Eve?

Drop by Louisburg’s historic Oakwood Cemetery Sunday afternoon for “Sip and Stroll with the Souls.”

Dorothy Cooper, one of the organizers of the event, said it should be a fun way to learn more about some of the famous – and not-so-famous – people who are buried there.

It kicks off at 2:30 p.m. and there will be numerous docents on hand to talk about particular people, from Gov. Thomas Walter Bickett to Richard Fenner Yarborough, whose son donated the land that became cemetery property.

“We thought it would be a nice idea to get people into the cemeteries,” Cooper told Bill Harris and Mark Pace on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny!

Both Harris and Pace will be participating as docents – Pace will discuss the elder Yarborough and Harris will talk about his Foster family ancestors that are buried in the cemetery. It’s not a ghost tour, or a spiritual tour, Cooper explained, but it’s just a happy coincidence that the tour falls the day before Halloween.

Tickets are $10, and there will be complimentary beverages and baked goodies for those who attend. Proceeds will be used to help with restoration and preservation of the headstones, some of which date back to the Revolutionary War era.

Over time, things do happen in cemeteries – stones fall or are turned over, Cooper said.

Getting people to come to the cemetery and learning about the lives of those whose graves are now marked with beautiful stones is a way to reconnect – and rekindle interest – in the cemetery.

The Oakwood Cemetery is located on N.C. Hwy 39 just outside Louisburg.

 

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