That’s what some callers say they are being told when they call the state’s vaccine hotline, even though state officials said Monday the system was set up to help to them secure a slot.
The representatives did not say the appointments were unavailable because they were all booked, frustrated people told NJ Advance Media. But instead, callers said they were told the workers didn’t have the capability to make appointments at all.
The confusion comes after Health Department commissioner Judy Persichilli said at the governor’s Monday coronavirus briefing that the hotline had started making appointments.
She said more than 600 appointments had been booked through the hotline since Wednesday. Over the weekend, she said, the call center took more than 16,000 calls, registered 514 people with the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System (NJVSS) and made appointments for 286 people.
“They started making first dose appointments last Wednesday,” Persichilli said, noting she wasn’t sure if second dose appointments were being made.
Faisel Muhammad of South Brunswick said he called the hotline on Tuesday and was turned away.
“The person told me to wait for the second email after registering with NJVSS, that it will have a link for setting up an appointment,” Muhammad said. “No phone appointments.”
Carol Rayside said when she called, a representative said “they can only register people and could not make appointments.”
Vincent Tamburro said his mother, who is over age 65, called the hotline and a representative told her “they don’t know why they aren’t able to schedule anything.” And when he tried the hotline himself, the representative said she couldn’t even get into the scheduling system.
“We are becoming incredibly frustrated,” the Wanaque man said.
Jane, 72, who didn’t want to provide her last name, said she has called the hotline multiple times.
“Initially I was informed there were operators to register and others to book appointments,” she said. “One time I was placed on hold for about an hour waiting for an appointment operator, only to be disconnected. (During) another call I was told that was incorrect. They only register.”
When asked about the complaints, a spokeswoman did not answer questions about what the representatives were allegedly saying, but said vaccine supply is limited and demand is high.
“As the Commissioner said in (Monday’s) briefing, callers are getting through, people are being registered and appointments have been made for eligible individuals,” spokeswoman Nancy Kearney said. “As supply increases, more appointments will become available.”
She said the call center has the same access to make appointments that is available to the public, but they are able to see all available appointments in the state at once.
“As we continue to receive more vaccine from the federal government in the coming months, we anticipate more appointments will be available through the call center,” Kearney said.
Others hotline callers reported other issues, including having trouble with the automated system.
Jack of Hunterdon County, who didn’t want to give his last name, said when he called, the system told him to press one if he’s already registered and would like to book an appointment.
“You are told to hold on for a rep, then it says since you haven’t responded please hang up and call back. What a joke,” he said. “Thinking someone is going to speak with them when they are told to please wait for the next rep, then silence, and the recording says since YOU did not respond they hang up. You aren’t given a question to respond to!”
Still others said they were on hold for 45 minutes or more, then they were suddenly disconnected.
The call center, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, can be reached at (855) 568-0545.
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
With a sweeping new mask mandate requiring face coverings on all public transit, planes and in federal buildings, clashes over masking up are inevitable.
Only, in New Jersey, two separate incidents saw patrons penalized not for refusing to wear face coverings, but for the opposite.
Brothers Rob and William Joseph were kicked off a United flight for wearing a Narwall full-face respirator, according to NorthJersey.com.
The Narwall mask, which costs $85, includes a polycarbonate face shield and a secure, airtight seal modeled after a snorkeling mask.Courtesy of Narwall Mask
And a gym-goer was turned away from his local Planet Fitness in Union for wearing a surgical mask instead of a cloth one, according to ABC7 New York.
Incidents of shoppers fighting with store managers over mask policies have gone viral recently (even Bruce Willis picked that fight). Yet, few have made headlines for wearing too much protection.
The Joseph brothers planned on boarding an 11 a.m. flight to Florida on Jan. 23 when United employees stopped them. They tried to explain that the $85 Narwall masks include a high-efficiency filter and are specially designed for high-risk situations but were kicked off the flight instead.
“Is it goofy? Absolutely. Is it something you want to be seen in public? Not exactly,” Rob Joseph, a Mahwah native, said of the masks modeled after a snorkeling headset, according to NorthJersey.com. “But to have that peace of mind for me and my family, I’m willing to take some stares to get down there safely.”
The Narwall mask, which costs $85, includes a polycarbonate face shield and a secure, airtight seal modeled after a snorkeling mask.Courtesy of Narwall Mask
A United spokesperson told NJ Advance Media the Narwall masks violated its mask policy.
“We do not accept that particular mask as it could potentially create certain impediments in emergency scenarios, such as preventing clear communication between customers and crew-members,” the spokesperson said.
Over in Union, no fancy headgear was involved. The gym dispute was simply over cloth masks versus surgical masks, both ubiquitous across the state.
Jordan Binenstock told ABC7 he was turned away at the door for wearing a surgical mask, the same type he’s seen Gov. Phil Murphy wear at his press briefings.
“It’s so plainly stupid, if you don’t mind me saying this,” Binenstock said, according to ABC7. “It just makes no sense. The whole time, it’s made no sense.”
Unlike United, which is standing by its stance, Planet Fitness attempted a mea culpa.
“The safety and wellbeing of our staff and members continues to be our number one priority,” reads a Planet Fitness statement sent to NJ Advance Media. “We can confirm that members and guests are allowed to wear disposable surgical masks at our New Jersey clubs, in accordance with local and state guidelines.”
The club was abiding by state guidelines that specified cloth masks, which have since been updated to include the use of surgical masks, the statement reads.
Murphy’s Executive Order from August reopening gyms does “require workers and customers to wear cloth face coverings while in the indoor portion of the premises.”
However, further down, the same order also includes a stipulation that “nothing in the stated policy should prevent workers or customers from wearing a surgical-grade mask or other more protective face covering if the individual is already in possession of such equipment.”
Regardless, the club will be allowing surgical masks in the future.
“Local club management will be reaching out to Mr. Binenstock to apologize for the misunderstanding and we hope to welcome him back to Planet Fitness as a member,” the company said.
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Josh Axelrod may be reached at jaxelrod@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
TEL AVIV — As Israel outpaces Western nations in its Covid-19 vaccination effort, it has become a role model for a world aching to return to life as it once was.
The country has inoculated a third of its population of 9 million in little more than a month, and over 80 percent of those 60 and older.
But if you ask most Israelis, the country’s handling of the coronavirus has been anything but a success story. A recent poll by the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute found that just 24 percent of Israelis approve of the government’s management of the crisis.
While Israel boasts the world’s highest vaccination rate, it is also battling the world’s third-worst infection rate.
Despite the vaccination campaign, January was Israel’s deadliest month, with 1,433 people dying from the virus — a third of the 5,000 fatalities since the pandemic began. Israelis have also experienced some of the world’s strictest and longest national lockdowns, with residents mostly confined to their homes for a cumulative four months.
In late December, Israel became the first country to enter a third lockdown. Meant to last two weeks, it is still in force.
Much of Israel’s successful vaccination rollout rests on its small size — roughly equivalent to New Jersey in both land size and population — and its centralized universal health care system that enables virtually all Israelis to be vaccinated quite seamlessly.
Yet there is another element driving Israel’s sprint toward becoming the first country to vaccinate a majority of its population: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is running for re-election, again.
“Many Israelis feel that the management of this crisis has been very much affected by Netanyahu’s own political considerations,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said.
In previous elections, Netanyahu was fighting corruption charges; now, ahead of the March 23 election, he faces trial on those charges, a challenger from his own party, and a pandemic that has killed thousands of Israelis and left many feeling that he has failed to safely navigate this crisis.
Protesters calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation outside his official residence in Jerusalem last week. The pandemic has delayed Netanyahu’s trial on bribery and fraud charges.Menahem Kahana / AFP – Getty Images
Netanyahu, whose trial has been delayed several times due to the lockdowns and is scheduled to appear in court Monday, seems to be counting on a successful vaccination operation to not only enable Israel to emerge from the coronavirus, but also to help win him re-election.
“He thinks the vaccine is going to help him, but I don’t, because the situation in Israel is only getting worse,” said Orly Almog, a member of the Black Flag movement, an anti-Netanyahu protest that began in March 2020 and has been demonstrating against Netanyahu since the pandemic began.
Experts say the vaccine has not been as effective in lowering the caseload as some expected because not enough Israelis have been fully inoculated—35 percent have received the first dose, while 20 percent have received both.
Also, according to Itamar Grotto, associate director general at the Ministry of Health, the vast majority of new cases in Israel are associated with the British variant, which is potentially more contagious and difficult to control with the current vaccines.
Political opponents and anti-Netanyahu protesters aren’t the only ones criticizing his handling of the pandemic.
Some 200 leading Israeli doctors and scientists have established two groups — the Common Sense Model and the Public Emergency Council for the Coronavirus Crisis (PECC) — to speak out against what they say is the mismanagement of the crisis. Members of these groups include former directors of Israel’s Ministry of Health, heads of Israeli hospitals and medical schools, and recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Israel Prize, the country’s highest distinction.
According to these experts, Israel’s reliance on national closures has been both unnecessary and ineffective.
“Lockdowns can lower the prevalence of disease, but in the end, they do not affect the number of sick or dead people,” said Dr. Yoav Yehezkelli, member of the Common Sense Model and the PECC who helped design Israel’s programs for dealing with an epidemic.
Lockdowns, he said, “can be taken in an extreme situation where the health system is flooded as we saw in the beginning of the pandemic in China or Italy.”
But the Israeli health care system “has never been close to collapsing” said Yehezkelli, who lectures on emergency and disaster management at Tel Aviv University.
Not all medical experts share this perspective.
Lockdowns “have been very very useful in reducing morbidity and mortality in the first two rounds,” said Ronit Calderon-Margalit, a professor of epidemiology at Hebrew University, who has been advising the government, referring to Israel’s previous lockdowns.
Israeli medical personnel tend to Covid-19 patients at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, northern Israel, on Tuesday. The country has already vaccinated a third of its population in little over a month. Jalaa Marey / AFP – Getty Images
It’s the steps taken getting out of lockdowns that can cause problems.
“There hasn’t been a clear strategy of the government, and even when there was, in the case of the traffic light strategy, it was never carried out,” Calderon-Margalit added, referring to the model in which lockdowns are enforced in “red” areas with high infection rates, and “green” areas with low infection rates have more freedom.
“We wasted the arsenal of the lockdowns,” she added.
Even government officials say the latest lockdown has been a failure.
“The forecasts were wrong,” Ran Balicer, the chairman of the national expert panel on Covid-19 said minutes before a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
“Lockdown as a means of magic … is dead,” added Balicer, a professor in the Department of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University.
Ahead of this meeting, Netanyahu was pushing for another lockdown extension. In the hours before the lockdown was supposed to end on Friday morning, the government announced that it would be extended until Sunday.
As in other countries, some experts also decry the overwhelming economic costs of closure.
According to Aaron Ciechan over, recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry, “four hours of lockdown is worth the annual budget of the Israel Cancer Association.”
Yehezkelli and his colleagues worry most about the devastating long-term effects on Israelis’ physical and mental health.
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These medical experts also believe the government’s decisions have been driven by politics. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein is a Netanyahu political appointee with no background in health. His predecessor, Yakov Litzman, who served until May 2020, had no medical background, flouted his own ministry’s coronavirus guidelines, and tested positive for Covid-19.
Critics cite as a prime example of politically driven decision-making the lack of enforcement of Covid-19 guidelines in many ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, where schools often remain open, and huge weddings and funerals continue to take place.
Israel would be in a much better place, many medical experts say, had Netanyahu not abandoned the so-called traffic light strategy to enforce lockdowns.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews argue with Israeli border police officers during a protest over the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Ashdod, Israel, last week.Oded Balilty / AP
Israel’s previous coronavirus czar, Ronni Gamzu, tried to implement that strategy, but was blocked by Netanyahu because many of the red areas are ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods that are strongholds for the embattled prime minister. Not wanting to alienate the ultra-Orthodox, who represent 12 percent of Israel’s population, Netanyahu opted for the current across-the-board approach.
The resentment created by this double standard will be a factor for many voters in March, Plesner said. “Enforcement is highly skewed in favor of the ultra-Orthodox population,” who according to government statistics constitute nearly 40 percent of virus cases, and receive just 2 percent of fines for violating lockdown rules.
According to Calderon and other medical experts who are not part of the Common Sense Model or the PECC, virtually every health professional in Israel agrees that the traffic light policy is preferable to the all-out lockdown, which has led to a fatigue that hinders compliance, making this lockdown less effective.
Grotto, the Health Ministry official, said there is truth to criticism that Netanyahu’s handling of the pandemic may be driven by political interests.
“But it’s also cultural. Even if the ultra-Orthodox community was not part of the [governing] coalition, still there would be a problem with the enforcement,” he said, noting that despite the high death toll among them, many religious leaders and their followers continue to rebel against restrictions.
The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the record for this story.
For most democratically elected leaders, these challenges could present an existential threat to any hope of re-election.
Yet Netanyahu is known as a political wizard, or “King Bibi” to his base, for good reason.
According to the latest polls, Netanyahu has the best chances of forming a government, though he is favored by just about 30 percent of voters.
Second behind him in the polls: “Don’t know” or “None of them.”
The Sacramento County Department of Public health is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Saturday for residents 65 years of age and older. County officials say the clinic is open to anyone 65 or older, “regardless of insurance, ability to pay or legal status.”Anyone eligible and interested in receiving the vaccine must register online for an appointment. No walk-ups will be accepted, the county said.| MORE | Register online here“The goal of the clinic is to reach Sacramento’s most vulnerable populations to ensure they receive timely access to the COVID-19 vaccine,” the county said in a press release.Only 1,000 people can be vaccinated at the clinic on a first-come-first-serve basis, officials said. The clinic will be held at the Cristo Rey High School in Sacramento on Saturday from 9 a.m. t0 5 p.m.Once a resident is vaccinated, they will immediately be registered for their follow-up dose. Participants should take identification to verify their age and a copy of their emailed appointment confirmation.Masks will be required and participants should arrive 10 minutes before their appointment time.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Sacramento County Department of Public health is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Saturday for residents 65 years of age and older.
County officials say the clinic is open to anyone 65 or older, “regardless of insurance, ability to pay or legal status.”
Anyone eligible and interested in receiving the vaccine must register online for an appointment. No walk-ups will be accepted, the county said.
| MORE | Register online here
“The goal of the clinic is to reach Sacramento’s most vulnerable populations to ensure they receive timely access to the COVID-19 vaccine,” the county said in a press release.
Only 1,000 people can be vaccinated at the clinic on a first-come-first-serve basis, officials said.
The clinic will be held at the Cristo Rey High School in Sacramento on Saturday from 9 a.m. t0 5 p.m.
Once a resident is vaccinated, they will immediately be registered for their follow-up dose. Participants should take identification to verify their age and a copy of their emailed appointment confirmation.
Masks will be required and participants should arrive 10 minutes before their appointment time.
“Why do you publicly support QAnon,” two callers asked this week during the mayor’s monthly “Coffee with the Mayor” community access radio broadcast.
“What does the Punisher symbol mean to you?” asked another caller, referring to the comic book antihero icon that has been adopted by QAnon followers. “Are you concerned that the publicity received as a result of your stance on QAnon will hurt our reputation?”
Mayor William Armacost answered each question on his radio program calmly, patiently and with scant apology about his growing internet attention as a mayor who called the conspiracy theory a “truth movement.”
“I have never publicly stated I support it,” Armacost said, referring to QAnon. “I’m an information seeker. I should have kept my personal feelings to myself. I’m here to talk about our beautiful little town of Sequim.”
But a sizable number Sequim residents have organized a petition to reinstate the city manager, who resigned earlier this month. They call the mayor a dangerous threat after a number of suspected QAnon followers were arrested for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 US Capitol insurrection.
“The people that led the Capitol insurrection were Q leaders,” said Shenna Younger, a Sequim resident leading Sequim Good Governance League, a grassroots movement that hopes to unseat the mayor. “This isn’t just a conspiracy theory. This is serious.”
‘QAnon is a truth movement’
Sequim’s city council centers around a salaried city manager that serves as chief executive. That means Armacost doesn’t have the power allotted to most US mayors.
Most Sequim residents barely paid attention to Armacost until last August, when he broadcast a stunning statement during “Coffee with the Mayor.”
Asked about QAnon, the mayor replied, “QAnon is a truth movement that encourages you to think for yourself. If you remove Q from that equation, it’s patriots from all over the world fighting for humanity, truth, freedom and saving children and others from human trafficking.”
Armacost then encouraged his listeners to watch a QAnon video filled with the conspiracy theories about a cabal of Satan-worshiping, child sex-trafficking group formed as part of a “deep state” seeking to annihilate Donald Trump.
The video echoes the unfounded claims promoted by QAnon. Since its origin, QAnon moved from the darkest corners of the internet as a single conspiracy theory to baseless theories about elections, global financial systems and human trafficking.
Shortly after Armacost’s comments about QAnon, the city manager, Charlie Bush, issued a press release with Armacost. Bush highlighted that the “Coffee with the Mayor” forum is designed to discuss issues specific to Sequim. And he noted how irregular the national comments were for the mayor. In that same release, the mayor called his decision to respond to a QAnon question “inappropriate.”
Earlier this month, the city council approved Bush’s sudden resignation after a surprise motion from Armacost. The resignation of the popular city manager alarmed Sequin residents who believe the public clash over QAnon led to Bush’s departure.
Bush told CNN he would not comment on his departure.
On Thursday’s “Coffee with the Mayor” broadcast, residents like Karen Hogan called in to demand an explanation.
“We have philosophical differences between the city council and the city manager,” Armacost said.
“What are those differences?” Hogan fired back on the call.
“I’m not at the liberty of revealing those,” Armacost said. “We have great differences, and we will leave it at that.”
Two callers into the mayor’s broadcast then asked, “Why do you publicly support QAnon?”
“I have never publicly stated I support it,” Armacost said. “I’m an information seeker and I should have kept my personal feelings to myself.”
Residents who formed the Sequim Good Governance League dispute the mayor’s defense.
Armacost’s opponents point to the mayor’s personal Facebook page, where Armacost has shared multiple posts of disinformation and the phrase “WWG1WGA,” a rallying cry that QAnon supporters have adopted, meaning, “Where we go one, we go all.”
They also say the mayor has been wearing a lapel pin at the virtual city council meetings this year. The pin, plainly visible on the recorded city council meetings, is a skull matching the Punisher symbol favored by QAnon believers. The mayor says the pin is in support of law enforcement.
Younger says 500 people have joined the Sequim Good Governance League in just two weeks. They fear that the departure of the city manager signals the mayor may further influence the town.
“People are awake now,” Younger said. “They want to participate, and they want to be involved.”
Rick Perdue, who recently moved to Sequim from the East Coast, said he was shocked to hear about the mayor of his new town, which he described as moderate and welcoming.
“I didn’t think we’d have this kind of a nutcase here. He should represent the values of the community, not his crazy right wing QAnon conspiracy stuff,” Perdue said.
Perdue points out that Sequim is in Clallam County, a bellwether county that has picked the winning President in every election since 1980. The county, says Perdue, represents the political sentiment of the country, which is why he is alarmed by the mayor’s words.
“There’s a lot of people that believe this,” Perdue said. “Look at the stuff that’s going on in Congress now. We’re certainly not unique in having high level people that follow the QAnon conspiracy theory information.”
‘I even read the fake news’
On Thursday, CNN approached Armacost outside the radio station following his program. For 15 minutes, the mayor calmly and politely answered questions.
When quoted back what he previously said on his radio program, calling the conspiracy theory a “truth movement,” Armacost said, “What I call is the opportunity as a patriot and as an American citizen to seek truth. That comes through analysis and research. People need to make up their own mind to make up their own homework.”
The mayor said he regretted telling residents to view the QAnon video, but he didn’t acknowledge the video’s outlandish content. Without prompting, the mayor then diverted the conversation to human trafficking. One of the promoted QAnon conspiracy theories is that the members of “deep state” engage in trafficking.
“I think if you take the time to do the research, there are many parallels that you may read that have been historically in the books of things that have happened,” Armacost said. “The human trafficking is one of them. We’ve had a great opportunity to seek more people that are in peril and rescue them and try to recover a normal life.”
When asked whether he’s a QAnon follower, the mayor said, “I entertain all resources. I even read the fake news, to even see if there’s a fabric, a thread of fabric that contains truth.”
Armacost says he could never support defacing a building like the US Capitol or attempting to harm or disrupt a public official. But he questioned whether QAnon beliefs fueled some of the Capitol insurrectionists, despite video showing Jan 6 rioters wearing Q shirts and carrying Q signs as they breached the Capitol.
“I’ve watched a lot of videos of what appears to be scenarios versus what has continued to run. I have no way to confirm that that was one group versus another,” Armacost said. “Just because the angle of the camera showed this view, it may not have shown another angle that shows a totally different scenario. I’m not denouncing it, but I’m not committing that this frame that I saw on a clip is the truth versus they didn’t show all the information.”
Ultimately, the mayor says what he believes privately carries no impact on his non-partisan job as mayor of Sequim.
On whether he would denounce QAnon as concerned Sequim residents have asked him to do, the mayor said, “I’m not supporting it. I’m not in a position…I’m one small man that runs a small business in a small little town. I don’t have the authority to denounce or promote either.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Sequim residents have organized a petition to oust Mayor William Armacost. They have organized a petition to reinstate the city manager.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has quite a strange case of illegal dumping on their hands, saying trash from several Eagle Mountain residents is ending up on private property instead of at the dump.
Only, the people who own the stuff aren’t the ones leaving it behind.
On Friday afternoon, Utah County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Spencer Cannon took photos of discarded furniture, boxes and random objects that sat on snow and mud amongst juniper trees.
The piles of trash were abandoned far back on private property at the base of Lake Mountain, on the outskirts of Eagle Mountain.
Sgt. Cannon pointed out an old pair of Sorel boots, as well as a dog crate and what appeared to be canned beets in mason jars. Old couches and chairs were stacked under mattresses and dressers.
“For 20 more minutes’ time, this guy could have done it the right way,” he said, referring to the fact that the dump in Cedar Fort was a mere 5-mile drive.
As he documented the investigation, he found a box with a name.
“This does have identifiable information on it,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office was already aware of who this stuff belonged to, because of Amazon boxes with names and addresses.
The culprits could face over $1,000 in fines, Sgt. Cannon indicated.
But that’s why the owners of all that stuff couldn’t believe it was left there.
“I was just like, ‘Are you kidding me?'” Torri Kenison asked in disbelief.
She claimed ownership of a sink, two dressers, dog crate, Christmas lights and boxes that were strewn about with the rest of the junk.
“That’s my stuff, and it needs to be appropriately disposed of. And I was irritated that I was lied to,” said Scarlet Davis.
Many of the items belong to Davis and her husband, who recently cleaned out their garage and got rid of a trailer-full of unwanted things.
Ring doorbell video shows how this all started out, when Kenison hired a man off Facebook a week ago Wednesday.
That man, she explained, posted in a community group offering to make dump runs for people to earn extra cash. Kenison said at least 15 people commented to take him up on his offer less than 30 minutes after he made the post.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll just have this guy do it. He seems reasonable. There’s quite a bit of interest,'” Kenison recounted.
She described how the man quickly showed up and took the items off her porch to load into his trailer. The man told her he was picking up items for other people, she said, including one person who was paying him $150. Kenison and her husband paid the man $30, and he went on his way.
But fast forward to earlier this week, when another Facebook post popped up in the same community group. The post warned against hiring the same man Kenison hired to make a dump run, with explanations that he wasn’t actually going to the dump.
Several pictures were attached, and Kenison immediately recognized all her things.
“He literally dumped two minutes from my house,” she said.
Just around the corner from her home, it appeared Kenison’s trash was abandoned along with trash from other people. When she called the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, she found out they were already on the case.
“He was like, ‘So you got hit by the dumpster bandit?'” she said of what the deputy told her. “And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he said I was one of four people that called that day about it.”
Sgt. Cannon said they’ve had several people contact them with the same story: They paid a man money to haul away trash, only to find their things illegally dumped on private property.
Davis is the one who figured it all out and made the original Facebook post. She explained that someone walking in the area found the garbage and noticed Davis’ name on some of the boxes, then reached out to her.
Her post led to comments from many others, recognizing their items.
“My stuff was unloaded with a bunch of other people’s stuff,” she said. “So they have come out and said, ‘Oh, that’s mine. That’s mine.'”
Davis said she and her husband paid the man $100 and even let him borrow their trailer, which was jam-packed full, to go to the so-called dump.
While Davis was worried at first that the Sheriff’s Office would find her items and fine her, she now just wants everything cleaned up. She said many people have volunteered to help her haul everything out this weekend and dispose of it the right way.
In the meantime, Kenison and Davis have both messaged the man to confront him. They each said he is denying he dumped the items there, and even went as far as telling Kenison the items she found weren’t hers.
The person behind this strange business venture has a family, Davis said. She said she understands hard times and poor decisions, and doesn’t expect her money back.
But she does want him to make better choices and learn from this.
“If they get away with things like this, then it ends up hurting the community and himself,” she said. “So, I just want him to recognize that what he did was wrong.”
The Sheriff’s Office is now working on holding this person accountable. Sgt. Cannon said he could face misdemeanor charges and potentially fines to cover the cost of cleanup.
“These people expected that they were getting a legitimate service,” he said. “And this is what they got, is a pile of junk — of their property — thrown out here.”
Three Alabamians have tested positive for a new strand of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) that was first detected in the United Kingdom late last year.The Alabama Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that B.1.1.7, which is a new and more highly transmissible COVID-19 variant, has been identified in two people from Montgomery County and one from Jefferson County. ADPH said two of those three positive tests came from children under the age of 19 and the other is an adult.UAB’s laboratory sequenced the specimens and identified them as the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7.While this particular variant has been detected in at least 24 other states, including Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, these are the first reported cases in Alabama.ADPH released the following statement on the new variant in our state:”Viruses mutate, and due to surveillance, it was expected that cases would be found in Alabama. At this time, many infectious disease experts and the CDC have indicated that the current vaccine should be effective against the U.K. strain. However, this is still being studied. Currently, the U.K. variant has not definitively been linked to worse outcomes of the disease. As this variant is recent to the United States, it is important to follow the outcome of persons infected with this variant.”At least 293 other people in the United States have been infected with the B.1.1.7 variant.TRACKING THE CURVEWVTM 13 is tracking the curve of coronavirus cases and coronavirus-related deaths that have occurred in Alabama. Click here to see the latest data.Get the WVTM 13 app for the latest updates on the pandemic.More news and coverage can be found at www.wvtm13.com/coronavirus.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. —
Three Alabamians have tested positive for a new strand of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) that was first detected in the United Kingdom late last year.
The Alabama Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that B.1.1.7, which is a new and more highly transmissible COVID-19 variant, has been identified in two people from Montgomery County and one from Jefferson County.
ADPH said two of those three positive tests came from children under the age of 19 and the other is an adult.
UAB’s laboratory sequenced the specimens and identified them as the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7.
While this particular variant has been detected in at least 24 other states, including Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, these are the first reported cases in Alabama.
ADPH released the following statement on the new variant in our state:
“Viruses mutate, and due to surveillance, it was expected that cases would be found in Alabama. At this time, many infectious disease experts and the CDC have indicated that the current vaccine should be effective against the U.K. strain. However, this is still being studied. Currently, the U.K. variant has not definitively been linked to worse outcomes of the disease. As this variant is recent to the United States, it is important to follow the outcome of persons infected with this variant.”
At least 293 other people in the United States have been infected with the B.1.1.7 variant.
TRACKING THE CURVE
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Santa Clara County residents 65 years and older are now eligible to get vaccinated, county officials announced Tuesday.
Residents in that age range can now schedule appointments through the county website for openings starting on Wednesday and thereafter.
The expanded eligibility follows the state’s current guidance for vaccine allocation.
“Older residents and those living in skilled nursing facilities continue to be the population at greatest risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Dr. Monika Roy, county assistant public health officer.
As of Monday, more than 160,300 individuals have been vaccinated in Santa Clara County by the county, private health care providers and other vaccine distributers.
The county’s health system is the largest provider of the COVID-19 vaccine, county officials said. So far, it has administered nearly 60,000 first doses and has a weekly capacity to provide 30,000 vaccine appointments per week.
Residents can make appointments at mass vaccination sites located at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, Berger Drive in San Jose and the Mountain View Community Center.
The county is also vaccinating eligible individuals at several Valley Health Center locations, including up to 600 people per day in Gilroy, according to the county’s Public Health Department.
“As the vaccine becomes available to more of our residents, the County continues its deep commitment to equity and ensuring access for our communities most at risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Dr. Jennifer Tong, associate chief medical officer for the County of Santa Clara Health System.
The county is also partnering with community clinics and launched a pilot mobile vaccination clinic to ensure vaccine access to residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
“We are coordinating efforts with local fire departments and emergency medical services providers and sending vaccinators into the field to ensure those at greatest risk can be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Roy said.
County officials say the ability to expand vaccine eligibility is dependent on vaccine supply.
This week, the county received 20,125 additional first doses of vaccine, which is “far fewer doses than health systems in the county have capacity to provide,” according to the county public health department.
Residents can get more information about vaccine allocation and administration by health care providers on the county’s COVID-19 vaccine dashboard.
To view the latest updates on vaccine eligibility or schedule a vaccination appointment, people can visit sccfreevax.org.
Santa Clara County residents 65 years and older are now eligible to get vaccinated, county officials announced Tuesday.
Residents in that age range can now schedule appointments through the county website for openings starting on Wednesday and thereafter.
The expanded eligibility follows the state’s current guidance for vaccine allocation.
“Older residents and those living in skilled nursing facilities continue to be the population at greatest risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Dr. Monika Roy, county assistant public health officer.
As of Monday, more than 160,300 individuals have been vaccinated in Santa Clara County by the county, private health care providers and other vaccine distributers.
The county’s health system is the largest provider of the COVID-19 vaccine, county officials said. So far, it has administered nearly 60,000 first doses and has a weekly capacity to provide 30,000 vaccine appointments per week.
Residents can make appointments at mass vaccination sites located at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, Berger Drive in San Jose and the Mountain View Community Center.
The county is also vaccinating eligible individuals at several Valley Health Center locations, including up to 600 people per day in Gilroy, according to the county’s Public Health Department.
“As the vaccine becomes available to more of our residents, the County continues its deep commitment to equity and ensuring access for our communities most at risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Dr. Jennifer Tong, associate chief medical officer for the County of Santa Clara Health System.
The county is also partnering with community clinics and launched a pilot mobile vaccination clinic to ensure vaccine access to residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
“We are coordinating efforts with local fire departments and emergency medical services providers and sending vaccinators into the field to ensure those at greatest risk can be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Roy said.
County officials say the ability to expand vaccine eligibility is dependent on vaccine supply.
This week, the county received 20,125 additional first doses of vaccine, which is “far fewer doses than health systems in the county have capacity to provide,” according to the county public health department.
Residents can get more information about vaccine allocation and administration by health care providers on the county’s COVID-19 vaccine dashboard.
To view the latest updates on vaccine eligibility or schedule a vaccination appointment, people can visit sccfreevax.org.
