ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Health Department is hosting a COVID vaccine clinic this weekend.
The clinic will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at the Health Department on Caroline Street.
Vaccines are now available for anyone age 5 or older.
The Health Department will be administering the three vaccines approved for use in the U.S. — those made by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
According to a press release, first and second shots will be available, as well as boosters.
The COVID vaccines are free and no appointment is needed.
As of Tuesday, the Health Department reports 19,833 county residents have been vaccinated.
According to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, 68% of the adults in the state are fully vaccinated.
The Health Department has also reported 15 new cases of COVID-19 this week: 10 on Monday, five on Tuesday. Thirty cases were reported last week.
Richmond County Schools, as of 3:30 p.m., reported six new student cases on its COVID Tracker: three at Washington Street Elementary; two at Rockingham Middle; and one at Hamlet Middle.
Hamlet Middle has had the second-highest number of student cases this school year with 36. Richmond Senior tops the list with 82, followed by Ninth Grade Academy with 45.
There have also been: 29 at Rockingham Middle; 25 at East Rockingham Elementary; 22 each at Mineral Springs and Washington Street Elementary and Cordova Middle; and 20 at L.J. Bell Elementary.
The remaining schools in the district have had fewer than 20 student related cases.
The COVID Tracker shows a total of 367 student-related cases and 54 staff-related cases.
Since the first case was reported in April of 2020, the Health Department has reported 7,289 positive cases and 146 COVID-related deaths. The most recent death was reported Monday.
Statewide COVID hospitalizations on Monday were at their second-lowest point in recent months at 1,037. That number had dropped to 1,032 on Nov. 13. Hospitalizations are nearly half of what they were a month before, according to NCDHHS.
Also on Monday, FirstHealth reported that only 19 of its 384 patients (4.9%) were COVID-positive. Of those, six were vaccinated.
