By the numbers

For the past two days, COVID-19 case numbers in Haywood have been 24 and 25, a number far below the Monday figure that includes weekend cases and was 128.

There are a total of 463 individuals currently in isolation as they recover or strive to not infect others as they recover from COVID. Another 49 individuals should be isolating, but are not cooperating with health officials.

About the the vaccination process

Several individuals sent emails raving about the drive-through vaccination clinic held Wednesday at the Smoky Mountain Events Center. Here's what they had to say.

"Both my wife, Anne, and I received our first COVID 19 vaccination today. What an excellent experience! Extremely well orchestrated and managed. Greg Shuping, Garron Bradish, and their teams deserve high fives for a job well done, and the Haywood County communities should feel mighty proud of the services they provide." Neil Budde

"The vaccine drive-through today was really good. Someone put a lot of thought in this. If only we had more locations, but I did not see anything but really nice, informative workers there. Kudos to the whole team." Stella Searcy

Federal relief

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce produced this fact sheet about the federal programs made available in an act passed at the end of last year.

Today's video

County Medical Director Mark Jaben warns that the next two weeks are critical as Haywood grapples with a Thanksgiving surge on top of a Christmas surge and the current New Year's surge.

Hospital staff is exhausted and struggling to keep up with the demand, and all need to to their part to avoid gatherings and follow guidelines when at the office or out in public.