It’s no secret that Guilford County and Cone Health have felt abandoned recently by the state when it comes to supplies of COVID-19 vaccine.
Now, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston is attempting to get some action.
In a Thursday, Jan. 28 letter to NC Governor Roy Cooper and NC Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen, Alston expressed his concerns and requested thousands of additional doses for the county and Cone Health.
Last week, thousands of people in the Charlotte area got vaccinated at large scale events while Cone Health was simultaneously cancelling appointments because the state wasn’t making good on commitments to Guilford County and its health providers. Commissioner Justin Conrad was so adamant about the unfairness of the situation that he sent a public records request to the state demanding records regarding what had happened.
Alston’s letter this week was an attempt to get the state to make things right.
“Thank you for your tireless efforts and advocacy for the State of North Carolina,” Alston began. “As you know, over the past few weeks Guilford County has been working to ensure that we have equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Your receptiveness to the concerns raised due to changes in the delivery models for January 15 and January 22 have been much appreciated.”
Alston wrote that Guilford County is now asking –based on population size, the rate of community spread and other factors – that the Guilford County Public Health Division be provided a minimum of 5,000 doses per week for the next three weeks.
Alston also requested doses for Cone Health, pointing out that the health care provider had recently been forced to cancel 10,400 appointments because of unexpected changes in the state’s supply practices.
Alston requested that Cone be provided an additional 5,000 doses in order to help handle some of their backlog.
He suggested that the doses could come from expected additional doses the federal government is allocating to North Carolina.
Other reasons listed why Guilford County and Cone should be at the front of the line included the fact that the county is centrally located in the state and is a place many people pass through.
The chairman also requested in the letter that Guilford County be the place where the next state-sponsored mega vaccination event is held.
“Guilford County has already established not one, but three mass vaccination clinics with room to expand at both our Greensboro Coliseum and High Point Mall locations,” he wrote.
The chairman concluded, “We stand ready and poised to be a long-term distribution portal for the vaccine on a much larger scale and look forward to working with the State to make this a reality.”
If White Republicans were at the helm of city and county government (and state government, for that matter) there would be endless haranguing by the media about how leadership failed its citizens.
Actually seems to me someone playing god Greensboro has been a hot spot and yet is left begging so they can bring a mega site for photo ops people are dying waiting for it
Of course! If you have a D behind your name, you get a pass on whatever you do, no matter how lame, useless, or illegal. I think it’s a federal or state law…
Agree!
Leftist only care about getting more wealth, power and control over us!
And the biased media will publish whatever they want to make it happen!
Fair elections are a thing of the past!
Typical of any Government entity. They demand to be in control while they have no idea what they’re controlling or how to execute a plan, which they do not have.
Are you missing TRUMP yet?????? I seem to remember that in the last several years that our wonderful leaders in the city tried an end around Raleigh.Hreensboro was so stuck on themselves that they didn’t need Ral.Since there have been s few occasions that Raleigh has bypassed dear ole Greensboro.I could imagine that this may be another slight.Yes and brother Skip is going to scold them,hurray for Skip. As long as we have Democrats running this great city we will have more of the same .
Everyone is entitle to my opinion, even yours.
Give the Dems a few months in Washington. See what happens. That will be hard to find as the press will talking-head you to their agenda. Have you watched the new Press Secretary? Watch a session.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Bureaurats are the scourge of the earth!
ps someone elects these govcrims