Three Rivers Health District Set Dates To Vaccinate Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck EMS Fire and Law Enforcement Personnel

Three Rivers Health District is managing the COVID-19 vaccinations of the EMS Agencies of the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck.  Working through the Emergency Managers in the eight jurisdictions,  Dr. Williams and her staff at the Three Rivers Health District have developed a process to ensure EMS and Fire personnel are vaccinated.

Using the Moderna Vaccine – Three Rivers Health District has begun providing COVID-19 vaccine to EMS providers.  Additional Vaccination Clinics for EMS providers from Essex County, King and Queen County, King William County, Lancaster County, Middlesex County, Northumberland County, Richmond County and Westmoreland County will be held on January 7th and 14th  from 10 am to 4 pm at the Three Rivers Health District at Richmond County Health Department.  Dates are also set up on January 28^th, February 7th and 14th for second dose administration.  EMS units will be standing by to monitor and provide initial treatment in the event of adverse reactions.  EMS Providers being vaccinated at the Three Rivers Clinics are receiving the Modern Vaccine and have been informed that they must get a Moderna Vaccine follow-up injection.  

Agencies must contact Alexis Burrell at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to provide her with a head count of providers who will be going to the clinic each day so that they can ensure they have sufficient vaccine set aside.  Individuals must have some type of credential the Health District can check, i.e., badge, letter from the Department of something.

Additional Emergency Services Vaccination Clinics will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January at the Three Rivers Health District at Richmond County Health Department. Some of the location for these clinics may change and if they do, the Health Department will notify the  Emergency Services Community through their Emergency Managers.  The address for Richmond County Emergency Services Vaccination Station is 152 Community Park Drive, Warsaw Virginia 22572 – Google has not updated this address to match the actual location of the site. You can use google to look up or use for a landmark Richmond County Fairgrounds and Richmond County Little League.

Three Rivers Health District has also partnered with Riverside Health Systems to provide Vaccinations to EMS and Fire in Gloucester and Mathews Counties.  The dates for those vaccinations have not yet been announced.  Also, Riverside will be using the Pfizer Vaccine, which will require those vaccinated by Riverside to get their follow-up vaccine from Riverside as well.  Gloucester and Mathews law enforcement personnel who do not wish to wait until Riverside can vaccinate non EMS first responders can get vaccinated at the Three Rivers Health District Emergency Services Vaccination Clinics.

Virginia Department of Health Announces New Pandemic Metrics Dashboard
Data Offers New Information to Help Localities Determine Mitigation Measures

RICHMOND, VA — Today, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) launched a new Pandemic Metrics Dashboard, which shows a visualization of COVID-19 community transmission by region. Updated weekly, this dashboard will show: data trends for COVID-19 in specific communities; where the COVID-19 virus is spreading; and assist local and state governments in determining additional mitigation measures.

“Communities across the Commonwealth are facing different challenges as we all continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Virginia State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, M.D., M.A. “This pandemic dashboard provides data for communities to individualize and tailor response efforts to local needs. A community where cases are surging and hospital beds are filling up, for example, will require different response efforts from those in a community where cases are declining and hospital occupancy is low.”

A CDC School Metrics tab will also be available within the dashboard. This tab uses metrics described by the CDC to guide decisions by school officials, taking into consideration the school’s ability to implement and adhere to key mitigation strategies to decrease transmission of COVID-19. VDH recommends local government and school officials work with local health districts to evaluate epidemiologic and other data to assess the extent of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) transmission within their region, its effect on the Commonwealth, and the ability of the healthcare system to function.  These data should then be interpreted within the context of the local jurisdiction.  VDH recommends that decisions to alter K-12 school programming, including decisions about in-person instruction, school dismissals or closures be handled at the most local level possible, considering both regional and local epidemiology, community characteristics, and local capacity.

“On behalf of the commonwealth’s 132 school divisions, I thank the Virginia Department of Health for making this dashboard available as a resource to inform local decision making to help schools navigate how and when to consider in-person, hybrid and virtual instruction,” Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane said.

The education setting outbreaks dashboard will include aggregate outbreak data that breaks out the current “Educational” category of outbreaks for K-12, childcare and higher education setting sub-categories.

These dashboards will help communities measure the extent to which the COVID-19 virus is spreading in their localities and guide possible responses to mitigate that spread. However, each community is unique and appropriate mitigation strategies should consider the impact to the community and be based on the best available data. Decisions will vary on how and when to increase community mitigation and the following information is intended to guide decisions.

For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus and www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.

PEMS Office Closed New Year's Day

The PEMS’ Office will be closed Friday, January 1, 2021 and will reopen virtually on Monday January 4, 2021.  The PEMS Staff would like to thank everyone for their hard work throughout 2020 and throughout the many challenges that were presented especially with COVID-19.  We remain grateful for all of your collaboration and support of PEMS along with your outstanding professionalism in the delivery of EMS to the communities. We are looking forward to meeting the challenges of 2021 together.

Happy New Year!

PEMS Medical Advisory Committee Postponed  

The PEMS MAC meeting scheduled for 9-10-20 has been postponed to 9-17-20.