Haywood County COVID-19 cases up by 57, total now 3,854

Haywood County -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Haywood County Public Health – March 2, 2021

In the week since the last press release, Haywood County Public Health has received notice of 57 new cases of COVID-19.  As of 5 p.m. March 1, 2021, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has recorded a total of 3,854 cases in Haywood County since the pandemic began. 

With our resources shifting primarily to the COVID-19 mass vaccination effort, some of our procedures have had to shift as well. Among these are some modifications to the Haywood County COVID-19 dashboard. 

We are now joining the majority of other counties in the state in relying more heavily on data provided by NCDHHS to populate the local dashboard, rather than continuing to devote staff time each day to sorting and data-crunching internal records. 

We continue to maintain internal tracking records as a key component in our COVID case management processes. The state now provides such in-depth county-level data that their numbers provide the most accurate data available.

We are no longer providing the isolated and released numbers, but an accurate daily picture of the COVID-19 burden on Haywood County can be obtained by reviewing the number of cases in the last seven days, as well as the daily new cases bar graph. 

New to the dashboard —  running totals of first and second-dose vaccines.

“Here at the Haywood County Public Health Department, we want to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information to our citizens. These changes increase transparency and more closely match the data provided by NCDHHS at the state level in the fight against COVID-19,” said Interim Health Director Garron Bradish.

“If you have tested positive and you have friends or family that meet the close contact criteria, encourage them to self-quarantine and get tested 5-6 days after their exposure to you. Our end goal is to reduce community spread, so one day we can all be together again,” said Bradish. “Since we have placed a hold on monitoring close contacts, we can’t currently provide quarantine documentation for employers. Businesses need to be mindful that having quarantined employees return to work too quickly could cause a cluster of cases in the workplace. We ask that employers rely on the honor system and encourage employees who have been exposed to quarantine for the recommended time frame of 14 days from the date of exposure to help us reduce the spread during this surge of cases.”

Where to find COVID-19 vaccine information:

To register for vaccination go to: https://www.haywoodcountync.gov/vaccine
For vaccine appointment or registration questions call: 828-356-2019
Please do NOT call the health department’s main number for COVID-19 vaccination questions, utilize the hotline instead.
For general COVID-19 information visit https://www.haywoodcountync.gov/684/COVID-19-Information