GLOUCESTER, Va. — A normal day inside a library is typically filled with quietness.
But at the Gloucester County Library on Main Street, there’s a new sound people might hear through its walls.
“We were prepared for it. We weren’t surprised by it,” Brett Major said, director of Gloucester County’s Emergency Management system.
The Three Rivers Health District, a 10-county district encompassing the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck (including Mathews and Gloucester counties), is one of the closest communities to Hampton Roads that has moved into Phase 1B of vaccine distribution.
To help with a surge of COVID-19 vaccine-related questions, a new information center has been established out of the Gloucester County Library, fielding calls from morning until night from across the entire health district.
Major says on Tuesday, the first day of operation for the resource center, 861 calls were taken, many of which resulted in residents being added to a vaccine waitlist for the area.
“People just want to know, ‘How can I put my name on a list if I’m in 1B and even 1C? I just want to make sure I’m contacted to receive a shot,’” Major said.
Major said the Virginia Department of Health has been swamped with COVID-19 related questions, even more so following the move to Phase 1B. With Virginia’s reportedly slow rollout and vaccine distribution, Virginians have been asking when they might be eligible to receive one, and exactly how.
“If their call lines are being bombarded, or stacked up with calls specific to COVID, we could help pull those calls,” Major told 13News Now in an interview Wednesday.
Basic information like name and contact numbers are all that’s taken from the call center to be placed on the waitlist. Calls are taken between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., with Gloucester County staff members acting as the operators on the other end of the line people might hear.
“What you may call confusion, we see as what can we do as a county to help VDH eliminate that confusion,” Major said.
While the work is long, it’s important, says Major. Every call taken and name written is another step closer to the end of the pandemic.
“Just because we’re in 1B doesn’t mean everybody can get in line ad get it. It’s a process and it’ll take some time,” Major said.
You can call the Three Rivers Health District's COVID-19 Resource number at 804-824-2733.