With COVID-19 hospitalizations up and staffing shortages reported in Mount Rogers Health District, not all is bad
While the school year is starting off strong for many who attend schools in the Mount Rogers Health District, health leaders report daily case counts are increasing, hospitals are filling up and burnout is leading to staffing shortages.
Virginiaโs health care workers start receiving vaccinations
NORFOLK, Va. โ Health care workers in Virginia started receiving the stateโs first doses of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, kicking off what is likely to be a months-long process of inoculating people from the potentially deadly disease. The Ballad Health system broadcast live video of registered nurse Emily Boucher getting her first shot in an area of southwestern Virginia. Ballad Health is set to administer its first COVID-19 vaccine Ballad Health nurse Emily Boucher is set to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine in the Tri-Cities region. She spoke of patients โwho are alone and lonely and scaredโ and the healthcare workers who sometimes hold up phones to patientsโ ears โso they can hear a familiar voice.โSeveral health care workers at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in the eastern part of the state also received injections. โMy heart really goes out to our frontline health care workers, those that have come in every day,โ said Gov.
Health system halting elective procedures amid virus surge
RICHMOND, Va. โ A health system serving a swath of the central Appalachian mountains says it will halt non-emergency elective procedures due to surging cases of COVID-19 and capacity concerns at its Virginia and Tennessee hospitals. Ballad Health officials announced the change Wednesday at a news conference. It will take effect Monday and last for at least 30 days. Ballad CEO Alan Levine also announced that the system has one refrigerated morgue truck at a Tennessee hospital and has ordered a second one for a different hospital. Ballad has been pleading with community members for months to follow basic public health measures to stop the spread of the virus.