Ursula and Bob Bateman of Southern Shores continue to do well, experiencing no adverse effects, more than 40 hours after they were vaccinated Wednesday with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills.

Mr. Bateman played tennis yesterday. Mrs. Bateman said she feels a little stiffness when she raises her vaccination arm, but no pain at the injection site. The vaccination itself, she said, “was nothing.” Like a pin prick.

Thanks to Mrs. Bateman, who inquired of medical personnel at the vaccination event, The Beacon reported on Wednesday afternoon already that Dare County had vaccinated 300 people that day. The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services later confirmed the number online.

Mrs. Bateman said that after she and her husband checked in at the Baum Center upon arrival, they waited only about 10 minutes before they received their vaccinations. She estimated that there were five to six vaccinators on site, whom she thought were likely nurses. She also observed many members of the Dare County Emergency Services on hand, as well as Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS.  

After they were vaccinated, the Batemans were taken to a room where they were monitored for 15 minutes for any adverse reactions before they could leave. Rare instances of anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction, have reportedly occurred in response to COVID-19 vaccination.

Each of the Batemans received an appointment card for a second-dose vaccination on Feb. 3, four weeks later.

Mrs. Bateman described the vaccination event as smooth and well-handled. She was impressed.  

The Beacon has learned that a number of Southern Shores homeowners have appointments for vaccinations on Monday at the Parks and Recreation Center in Kill Devil Hills.

LOCAL CASES CONTINUE TO INCREASE DRAMATICALLY

The DCDHHS reported yesterday two days’ worth of new COVID-19 cases locally. (See The Beacon’s report, 1/8/21.) The total was 110: 78 Dare County residents and 32 nonresidents.

We have just received unconfirmed word that a petition is circulating online to compel the Dare County Board of Commissioners to take action to enforce the Governor’s mask mandate, 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew, restaurant capacity restrictions, and other COVID-19 prevention actions. We are not aware of how local law enforcement departments are handling violations of the Governor’s executive orders. But we have heard anecdotally that some local restaurants are exceeding capacity.

We will report further on this development as we gather the facts.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I have just received word from a good friend of mine in Maryland that her 49-year-old stepson died Wednesday of COVID-19, more than a month after being diagnosed.

This young man was healthy and fit, with no underlying medical conditions. After testing positive for the virus, he isolated at home, where he was under the care of his personal physician. He thought he would be fine and advised his family not to worry.

But three weeks after his diagnosis, he had to be transported by ambulance to a hospital where he worsened and was placed on life support. I do not have all of the medical facts, but I know that he delayed going to the hospital because he just did not believe the severity of his condition. After all, he was healthy and young.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 50 percent of the COVID-19 spread is caused by asymptomatic people. See U.S. sets covid-19 death record as researchers point to asymptomatic cases – The Washington Post

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 1/8/21

A record-high 10,398 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in North Carolina during the most recent 24-hour period, according to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard, while the number of hospitalizations continued to climb toward the 4,000 mark.

Since Governor Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen implored North Carolinians yesterday to take immediate action to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus–emphasizing again the imperative that they wear masks and stay home except for essential activities–67 more people have been hospitalized for COVID-19, and 137 have died.

Statewide hospitalizations now total 3,960, while deaths number 7,213.

The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services did not update its COVID-19 dashboard yesterday. At 11 a.m. today, it posted new case reports for yesterday, showing 53 people, including 38 Dare County residents, had tested positive for COVID-19.

UPDATE: Later in the day the DCDHHS posted 57 more new COVID-19 cases, 40 residents and 17 nonresidents, for a two-day case total of 110. The DCDHHS dashboard also added the hospitalization of a Dare County resident, without explanation.

The Beacon, 1/7/21

I have deleted my post about the terrorist mob storming the U.S. Capitol today in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power at the highest level of our government. What happened today and what is continuing to happen sickens me. I may take sick leave, but before I do, I will report:

Earlier today Governor Roy Cooper held a COVID-19 update briefing in which he announced the extension of the modified stay-at-home order in North Carolina by three weeks, which means that the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will remain in effect until 5 p.m. Jan. 29.

Also at the briefing, Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, announced the issuance of a Secretarial Directive in which she advised people to stay home and only leave for essential activities, such as going to work or school, buying groceries, or attending to healthcare needs; to wear a mask at all times and to maintain six feet of physical distance from people whenever they are outside of their homes; to avoid gatherings with people who are not in their households; and to take other immediate actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

People who are age 65 or older, or who are at high-risk for developing serious illness, the Secretary advised, should arrange to have their groceries, medications, and other essential supplies delivered to them.

See the Secretarial Directive at: KM_227-20210105173141 (nc.gov)

Governor Cooper said that statewide COVID-19 metrics, which have dramatically escalated since early November, “paint a dark and difficult picture,” and continued to propound that “prevention is our best weapon.”

Secretary Cohen called the latest counts for new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and emergency-room visits for COVID-19-like symptoms “astonishingly high” and noted, with alarm, that they do not yet reflect the “full impact of the [Christmas] holidays.”

Today the NCDHHS dashboard reported 6,952 new COVID-19 cases, 3,893 hospitalizations, and a positivity rate of 17.8 percent. Both the number of hospitalizations and the percentage of positive tests are record highs.

There is “an alarming amount of virus everywhere in our state,” said Secretary Cohen. Both she and Governor said “getting the vaccine out quickly” is the State’s most urgent priority.

They also expressed disappointment that many people in Prioritization Phase 1A, such as staff at long-term care facilities, have declined to receive the vaccine.

According to the NCDHHS’s COVID-19 County Alert System, which was updated today, 96 of North Carolina’s 100 counties are currently in the “red” or “orange” zone for COVID-19 spread, signifying critical or substantial spread, respectively. Eighty-four of them are in the red, including Dare County.

“We are in a very dangerous position,” Governor Cooper said.

The COVID Data Tracker of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this morning that North Carolina has received 498,450 doses (4,753 per 100,000) of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines thus far, and has vaccinated 137,198 (1,308 per 100,000) people with first doses. Second doses of vaccine reportedly arrived in North Carolina this week.

Secretary Cohen said several times during today’s briefing, as she has in the past, that vaccine supplies in North Carolina “are very limited and people may need to wait.” The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services has stressed the same message.

The Governor has mobilized the N.C. National Guard to help local health departments with administering vaccinations statewide. The Guard is sending out six-person teams to assist: Two team members will be able to administer vaccinations, while the other four will help with logistics.

The Secretary said that the NCDHHS has allocated all of the vaccine supply it has received to local health departments, but some counties are having trouble with their distribution.

According to Southern Shores homeowner Ursula Bateman, who received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine, with her husband Bob, at the Baum Center this afternoon, the DCDHHS vaccinated 300 people today. Mrs. Bateman described the vaccination event as “well-handled” and the vaccination itself as painless.

“It was just a prick,” she said, adding that she felt more pain when she was received a pneumonia vaccination.

The DCDHHS has not yet updated its dashboard today for new local COVID-19 cases.

I do not apologize for the passions I expressed earlier or for my refusal to engage in discussion and argument. This is a privately maintained blog of news and editorial opinion, not a publicly funded forum. The First Amendment does not apply to the actions of strictly private parties. It is designed to address government oppression.

There is a dangerous pandemic raging across our country. I have done my best to inform you about it locally and statewide.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 1/6/21

The Southern Shores police are seeking the public’s help with identifying the person(s) who illegally killed a deer with an arrow in Chicahauk last weekend.

In a release to local media, the police said that the deer was found dead about 9:30 a.m. Saturday near the turtle pond between 62 Spindrift Trail in Chicahauk and 61 Ocean Blvd. It did not report any further details of what was described on Nextdoor.com two days ago by a Chicahauk homeowner as an apparent poaching.

The news of the deer’s slaying first appeared on Nextdoor when a Chicahauk homeowner reported that a buck had been killed with an arrow and decapitated, presumably for his antlers. The homeowner said that a child discovered the buck’s remains.

This same homeowner reported hearing what she thought was gunfire in the area during the preceding days.

Hunting is not permitted in Southern Shores, and the “shooting or discharging” of arrows in town is specifically prohibited by Town Code sec. 22-5. The offense is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

If you have any information about the misguided and potentially dangerous person or persons who committed this soulless act, please contact the Southern Shores Police Dept. at (252) 261-331.

DELAY, AS EXPECTED; VACCINE REGISTRATION UPDATE: We have heard from another Southern Shores homeowner that when she went through the online vaccination registration last night, she received the following response upon submission of her form:

“Due to an overwhelming response, it will take time for our staff to call you back. It will likely be mid to late February before we are able to accommodate everyone in this phase, as vaccine supply is very limited. Please be patient as we work to provide you an appointment for your vaccine.”

The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services reported yesterday afternoon that it did not anticipate registering people in Group 2 of Phase 1B—the next group of vaccine recipients prioritized in Phase 1B after people age 75 or older—until the “beginning of February.” It would now appear that this was an optimistic assessment.

As we have previously reported, the holdup with vaccinations is the amount of vaccine that the State of North Carolina receives from the U.S. government each week. The problem of limited supply does not originate with the State; it originates in Washington.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, said at the last COVID-19 briefing in Raleigh that the State can count on receiving 60,000 doses of each vaccine weekly “going forward.” Needless to say, this is a grossly inadequate supply for a state as populous as North Carolina.

Governor Roy Cooper and Secretary Cohen are scheduled to hold another COVID-19 briefing today at 2 p.m., which may be viewed on UNC-TV channel 3 or via livestream at https://www.unctv.org/watch/live-stream/eoc/.

Secretary Cohen receives word from the federal government of the State’s weekly supply of vaccine each Tuesday. Perhaps she will have encouraging news.

INAUDIBLE LIVESTREAM OF TOWN COUNCIL MEETING: We would like to report to you today what Dare County Manager/Attorney Bobby Outten said at last evening’s Town Council meeting about County funding for the Town’s 2022 beach nourishment project, but we were unable to hear him well enough on the meeting livestream to do so. A persistent hum drowned his voice. We can say only that Mr. Outten spoke at some length.

None of the speakers at the meeting, which lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, were clearly audible on the livestream we accessed. We checked the videotape this morning and encountered the same problems. If anyone has better success with the Town’s You Tube video of the meeting, please let us know. 

We will try to catch up with Town Council news by speaking with Town Manager Cliff Ogburn as soon as possible. Please check back on Friday or Saturday.

Because of the COVID-19 vaccination reporting we did yesterday, we were unable to attend the meeting in person, but we will endeavor to do so in the future. The next Town Council session will be Jan. 19 at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center.  

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 1/6/21

Frontline essential workers in Group 2 of Phase 1B of North Carolina’s vaccine rollout should not expect to be able to register for vaccine appointments until “the beginning of February,” the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services said today in its Tuesday COVID-19 update.

The DCDHHS calculated that based on Dare County’s anticipated supply of vaccine and the number of people age 75 or older who will register for vaccine appointments, vaccinations of Group 1 of Phase 1B will take about a month.

Frontline essential workers prioritized to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Group 2 must be age 50 or older. They include first responders, such as firefighters and police officers; corrections officers; food and agricultural workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; manufacturing, grocery store, and public transit workers; and educational and child-care workers, including teachers, support staff, and day-care workers.

Phase 1B also has a third group that consists of healthcare workers not vaccinated during Phase 1A and frontline essential workers of any age.

The DCDHHS also reported 27 new COVID-19 cases today, 20 of whom are Dare County residents.

During the past week, 14.9 percent of the COVID-19 diagnostic tests done locally were positive, according to the update, which gave no further details about the Dare County resident whose death was reported yesterday. 

The Beacon, 1/5/21

A Southern Shores homeowner informed us this morning that she and her husband registered today for the last vaccination appointments scheduled tomorrow at the Thomas A Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills.

They just got lucky, placing two 8:30 a.m. calls to the Dare County COVID-19 Call Center, and getting through to a real person on the second call. Their appointment is for 3:45 p.m. tomorrow.

Subsequent to this Southern Shores homeowner’s success, another homeowner in our town called the Call Center and also got through to a real person, who informed her that the Call Center is no longer making vaccination appointments by telephone, only through online registration.

This homeowner reports that the Call Center worker advised her that people who register online will be contacted according to the time that they registered, essentially on a first-come/first-serve basis.

As we reported earlier today, the URL link for vaccination registration is www.darenc.com/register4vaccine.

Only people who are age 75 or older–and, therefore, in Group One of Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout–may register now. People who are in Phase 1B, but in a lower-ranked group, are not eligible for vaccination yet. (See The Beacon, 1/2/21, for the groups in all four prioritization phases of North Carolina’s vaccine rollout.)

After you submit your registration form, you should see a notation at the top of the page informing you that your submission has been successful.

The Beacon has decided not to identify either of these homeowners out of concern for their privacy. The first homeowner, who will be vaccinated tomorrow with her husband, has agreed to be interviewed by The Beacon about the process. Please check back tomorrow to read about their experience.

THE NUMBER OF COVID-19-RELATED HOSPITALIZATIONS AND DEATHS ACROSS THE STATE CONTINUE TO RISE. The N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services reported today 3,781 hospitalizations, a new record, and a total of 6,996 deaths.

In the past three days, the number of new COVID-19 cases statewide has ranged from 5,187 to 6,487. The positivity rate was above 16 percent yesterday and is again today.

The issue of concern with the number of hospitalizations, Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the NCDHHS, has explained, is not the number of hospital beds available, but the number of physicians and nurses available to treat COVID-19 patients. The worry is a shortage of medical staff, not beds.

The Beacon, 1/5/21

The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services is now registering North Carolina residents and property owners age 75 or older for COVID-19 vaccination online, rather than requiring people to call the Call Center and repeatedly receive a busy signal.

This is a step in the right direction.

For online registration, go to www.darenc.com/register4vaccine.

After you register, a Call Center employee will call you back with a vaccine appointment date and time “as vaccine is available,” according to the registration form.

As The Beacon has reported previously—including in yesterday’s coverage—Dare County has a limited supply of the Moderna vaccine that it has been administering. The DCDHHS has declined to inform the public about just how many vaccine doses it has or can anticipate having for Phase 1B, Group One, which includes people who are age 75 or older.

We also would note that anyone who is vaccinated must be observed for at least 15 minutes by medical personnel to ensure that he/she does not have an adverse reaction.

Rare instances of anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction, have been reported among COVID-19 vaccine recipients. Anaphylaxis can be successfully treated with an injection of epinephrine (aka adrenaline).   

A reminder: The second dose of the Moderna vaccine must be given 28 days after the first.

The Beacon, 1/5/21

Another Dare County resident has died of COVID-19, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard update, bringing the total number of local deaths attributable to the coronavirus to six.

The DCDHHS’s report does not provided any particular details about the person who died. One could surmise that he/she had been hospitalized because the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations of Dare County residents reported on the dashboard has declined by two since yesterday.

The DCDHHS is inconsistent in its updating of hospitalizations, however. Yesterday, the dashboard showed 12 Dare County residents hospitalized, and today, it shows only 10.

Today’s update also includes the report of a male Dare County resident between the ages of 25 and 49 who has been hospitalized for COVID-19. The man is one of only six new cases—five of them residents—reported by the DCDHHS today.

In contrast, the DCDHHS reported 37 new COVID-19 cases yesterday; 73 new cases on Saturday; and 52 new cases on New Year’s Day.

The Beacon is saddened by the loss of another person’s life. We wish his/her loved ones comfort and kindness from others during their grief.

The Beacon, 1/4/21

North Carolina residents and property owners age 75 or older may register now to receive a first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at one of three Dare County vaccination clinics in the next two weeks, according to a news bulletin posted this afternoon on the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ website.

To be effective, a second dose of Moderna vaccine must be administered 28 days after the first. The State of North Carolina has not yet received second doses of the vaccine, according to Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, who spoke at a briefing in Raleigh last week. (Vaccine shipments arrive on Tuesdays, she said. Distributions are made on Fridays.)

See the DCDHHS bulletin at DCDHHS COVID-19 Update #73 | Monday, January 4, 2020 | COVID-19 Bulletins & News | Dare County, NC (darenc.com).

The vaccination clinics will be held Wed., Jan. 6, at the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center, 300 S. Mustian St., in Kill Devil Hills; Mon., Jan. 11, at the Dare County Parks and Recreation Center, 602 S. Mustian St., in Kill Devil Hills; and Sat., Jan. 16, at the Fessenden Center, N.C. Hwy. 12, in Buxton.  

“Vaccine clinics will be offered on an ongoing basis,” the DCDHHS bulletin states, “based on our weekly allocation of the vaccine from the state.

“We are currently only receiving a very limited number of doses each week. Please be patient and understand that it will take time to provide everyone the vaccine who wishes to receive it.”

As The Beacon recently reported, Dr. Cohen said at the briefing that the State is currently receiving weekly 60,000 doses each of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

That means that Dare County will be receiving its “limited” weekly allocation from just 60,000 doses. According to Dr. Cohen, there are 2 million people age 75 or older residing in North Carolina.

To register for a clinic appointment, you must call the COVID-19 Call Center at (252) 475-5008, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be no walk-in appointments.

You will need to produce documentary proof of North Carolina residency or property ownership, which may include your driver’s license, your copy of a current lease or mortgage, your current vehicle registration, or your current tax record, according to the bulletin.

The DCDHHS’s bulletin does not restrict registration to Dare County residents and property owners, referring instead to N.C. residents and property owners. Why?

To be eligible for registration, you also cannot have been vaccinated for any other reason within 14 days before your scheduled COVID-19 vaccine and cannot have been in direct contact with anyone who has had the virus in the past 14 days or have been infected yourself in the past 14 days.

We do not know how many people age 75+ live in Dare County and nearby counties, but we would suspect you will encounter a major problem with getting through to the Call Center to register for the free vaccine. The bulletin says only that the DCDHHS is “expecting a high call volume, so please keep trying if you do not get an answer right away.”

The Beacon finds both the DCDHHS’s bulletin and its plan of action grossly lacking.

First, we would like to be told how many vaccine doses the DCDHHS is currently receiving from the State and can expect to receive in Phase 1B. This seems to us to be a matter of fundamental public information that public-health officials—if not the Dare County Board of Commissioners—should provide.

The DCDHHS also should have explained in its bulletin the steps in the vaccination process, not just the registration process.

Exactly how will people age 75 or older–many of whom may be frail or non-ambulatory–be vaccinated? Will they be able to wait in their vehicles for a nurse to come to them to administer their injections? Precisely what physical demands will be made upon them?

Further: What hours will the clinics be held? How much in advance will people have to arrive for their appointments? How many people can be vaccinated at each clinic in a given hour?

We could go on.

The scheduling of a clinic this Wednesday (!) in what is essentially “downtown” Outer Banks virtually guarantees a telephone logjam. We wonder if the DCDHHS thought to prioritize the administration of these vaccinations, starting with the “oldest old” and progressing from there?

Surely, there is a more efficient, rational, and less frustrating way of administering vaccinations to the members of Group One of Phase 1B than as a first-come/first-serve free-for-all. A lottery system strikes us as more fair and equitable than the system implemented. 

Good luck, everyone. The Beacon is not going to be calling the DCDHHS any time soon. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who is able to register for an appointment about the directions they receive from the Call Center. We would love to learn that our skepticism is not warranted.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 1/4/21

Dare County Manager/Attorney Bobby Outten is expected to inform the Town Council at its meeting tomorrow how much of a financial contribution the Town will receive from the County’s Beach Nourishment Occupancy Tax Fund for its 2022 beach nourishment project.

The Town Council will meet tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. Anyone wishing to attend the meeting in person must observe infection-control protocols, including wearing a facial covering. The meeting will be live-streamed at Southern Shores – YouTube.

Dare County sets aside one-third of the 6-percent occupancy taxes that it collects from rentals of all local lodging accommodations for its Beach Nourishment Fund (BNF).

All of the Dare County towns that have performed beach nourishment thus far have received monies from the BNF.

Town Manager Cliff Ogburn estimated in an email to The Beacon last week that the County will allocate to Southern Shores about “$7 million upfront with a yearly contribution to the debt service [of] around $750,000 a year.” 

Mr. Outten, a Chicahauk resident who is expected to appear at the meeting in person, will “share with the Council how the money in the County [BNF] is going to be allocated for each [Dare County beach] town,” Mr. Ogburn said.

In addition to Southern Shores, the unincorporated community of Avon on Hatteras Island has submitted a first-time beach nourishment proposal to Dare County. The towns of Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, and Nags Head also are seeking funds for their upcoming re-nourishment projects.

“It looks like the [County’s] plan is to reduce [its] contribution to each town’s project by the amounts of . . . recent grant awards” by the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality, Mr. Ogburn explained.

Southern Shores, Nags Head, and Kitty Hawk each received $1,408,247.19 from the State, while Duck and Kill Devil Hills received $1,450,921.35.

Mr. Ogburn confirmed that Southern Shores does not yet know how much its 2022 project will cost because engineers with Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina (CPE) have not told the Town “the amount of cubic yards of sand we need.”

He is anticipating a $14 million to $16 million project.

CPE, formerly known as APTIM Coastal Planning and Engineering of North Carolina, is the Wilmington-based engineering firm that the Town has hired to handle all aspects of its 2022 project.

“Right now,” Mr. Ogburn said, “I’m still figuring on the MSD [municipal service district] and townwide revenue needing to generate about $1,250,000 per year.”

In addition to the usual Town staff reports, tomorrow’s meeting agenda features the appointment of a new member to the Historic Landmarks Commission to replace founding member Lorelei Costa, who will be honored for her contribution; direction to the Town Planning Board to conduct its final review of the Town Code update/revision by CodeWright Planners, a project that is 5½ years in the making; and consideration of the Town’s participation in the formulation of the North Carolina League of Municipalities’ legislative goals.

Mr. Ogburn is advising the Town Council to “review, discuss, and determine” which 10 of the NCLM’s 17 espoused advocacy and policy goals it supports and to designate a voting delegate to cast a ballot with these chosen goals by a Jan. 15 deadline.

The NCLM is a membership organization that represents the interests of towns and cities in North Carolina. See Home- North Carolina League of Municipalities (nclm.org).

We refer you to the meeting packet for an enumeration of the NCLM’s goals.

You may access the Town Council’s agenda and meeting packet at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2021-01-05.pdf.

You may present public comments in person at the meeting or submit them in advance in an email, with “public comment” in the subject line, to info@southernshores-nc.gov.

UPDATE ON VACCINE ROLLOUT: We have learned that the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services expects to provide details about vaccinations for local people who are age 75 or older and, therefore, are in the first group of Phase 1B, today at 2 p.m. We will report on the DCDHHS release as soon as practicably possible.

We will be very interested to see how Dare County plans to ration out the limited number of vaccine doses that it will receive.   

COVID-19 metrics posted today on the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard show a record-high 3,635 hospitalizations statewide and a record-high positivity rate of 16.5 percent. Deaths statewide now total 6,941 people.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 1/4/21