A total of around $1 million in medical debt for approximately 1,000 Columbus area residents is being retired as part of a new outreach project at Mercer University. The Mercer Family Cares Initiative, funded by $30,000 in donations from three families, is erasing health care bills totaling more than $4.3 million for nearly 3,000 residents in 33…
Officials in a coastal Georgia community have issued an “urgent” warning after reports of several overdoses linked to a batch of fentanyl-laced drugs, including marijuana. Officials responded to several calls involving a person unconscious or unresponsive on Friday, according to Camden County’s Emergency Management Agency. Read the full article: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a new executive order Friday that eliminates most of Georgia’s remaining COVID-19 but doesn’t outright ban schools from having mask requirements. The order, which takes effect May 31 and lasts through June 15, leaves limited guidelines for long-term care facilities, schools and school districts. Read the full article: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Columbus’ mask mandate remains in effect despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s newest guidance issued Thursday, but it will likely be repealed once the county’s 14-day COVID-19 case rate drops, Mayor Skip Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer. Read the full article: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
In a whirlwind affair lasting less than an hour, 100 people rolled up their sleeves and received the COVID-19 vaccine at Safehouse Ministries in Columbus. The April 8 event was the organization’s first pop-up vaccine clinic, orchestrated by chaplain and director of Safehouse Neil Richardson, to vaccinate their support staff and clients experiencing homelessness. Read the…
Eric Mailman was one of the more than 600 people who got a shot at the Columbus Civic Center mass vaccination site as of 10:30 a.m. Thursday. It’s the first day of the state’s expanded eligibility that allows all Georgians over the age of 16 to be vaccinated. Appointment requirements at the site were suspended…
Health officials are unable to accurately track the number of vaccines administered in several states because of a reporting issue between pharmacies and state databases, CDC officials confirmed to McClatchy. The CDC could not specify the states affected or when the issue began, only that there was a reporting issue among a “small subset” of shots….
Columbus is now home to Georgia’s largest mass vaccination site. The site, located at the Columbus Civic Center (1 Lumpkin Blvd.), outsizes the state’s eight other sites with a total of 10 vaccination lanes. The Columbus site has the capacity to perform 1,000 vaccinations per day but is expected to expand, said Jason Ritter, Area 4 field…
On the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, Krana Herriott-Felton was among the more than 1,000 Muscogee County School District employees vaccinated against the coronavirus Thursday. “I know it doesn’t fix everything, but it does help me with a little bit more security, knowing that I have that extra protection,” Herriott-Felton,…
A new Veterans Affairs clinic aimed at providing medical services, supportive housing and more to homeless veterans will open soon in Columbus. The Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System will open the Columbus Downtown VA Clinic March 1, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Read the full article: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer