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THREAD TIME: It could be APRIL before Georgia's 120k/week vaccine allocation goes up, says Dr. Kathleen Toomey from @GaDPH in her latest press conference with @GovKemp. Kemp says current allocation will keep teachers, school staff, i/dd folks waiting for some time.
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Kemp says his team has been speaking with Biden admin (though he hasn't directly) and have received no signals that Georgia's allocation will change soon. Says he's giving the new administration time to get up and running to see if that changes.
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99.5% of skilled nursing facilities have been reached by Walgreens/CVS with vaccine, Kemp says. When asked what percent of staff/residents have been vaccinated, Kemp says it's not clear. (GA saw high rates of refusal from LTC staff early on--Kemp says it's still a problem).
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Georgia has not yet reached the halfway mark for the 2m+ people in group 1a+, though Kemp says the state is working to expand capacity if/when allocation ramps up. State is working 24/7, Kemp says, to get ready, but the issue is still constraints on supply.
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When asked about the lack of a centralized state vaccine booking system, Kemp says the state isn't looking to move OFF a platform to a new one.
Thing is, does the state HAVE a platform that exists for this? I know they have a directory, but that's not the same.
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Thing is, does the state HAVE a platform that exists for this? I know they have a directory, but that's not the same.
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Toomey says Georgia isn't stopping "vaccine tourism" people coming in from other states to get shots.
"We're not going to waste vaccine," Toomey says.
I get the concern about people border hopping, but the virus does too! So maybe that's not a big issue?
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"We're not going to waste vaccine," Toomey says.
I get the concern about people border hopping, but the virus does too! So maybe that's not a big issue?
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Kemp gave a shout out to healthcare and DPH workers who have been working like crazy for close to a year now to address the pandemic.
That shout out, it seems, could be all they get from Kemp, who has declined to boost DPH's budget for, say, raises.
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That shout out, it seems, could be all they get from Kemp, who has declined to boost DPH's budget for, say, raises.
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Kemp says the state will use "every available resource" to get the vaccine out.
But there's also no IT/operations $$$ in the proposed budget for DPH, so, maybe it should be "every available *federal* resource"?
Again, $1b from the feds so far to Georgia for COVID.
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But there's also no IT/operations $$$ in the proposed budget for DPH, so, maybe it should be "every available *federal* resource"?
Again, $1b from the feds so far to Georgia for COVID.
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That means, I'd imagine, DPH workers will have to keep dealing with systems that can't handle the demand, a frustrated public asking for shots in the face of officials declining to direct state dollars their way. I'd imagine people aren't in public health for the money ...
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Let's end at the beginning. Some of Georgia's stats are looking better, Kemp says, but the state still can't handle another surge.
I think: we have SO FAR to go before we even get back to our summer surge, let alone some kind of baseline.
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I think: we have SO FAR to go before we even get back to our summer surge, let alone some kind of baseline.
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