News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Regional CEO Paul Korth said his team has set plans in place to vaccinate medical workers inside the facility when the COVID vaccine becomes available.
When that will be, Korth said remains a question mark.
“We don’t know a definite day, we hope it will be coming very, very shortly,” Korth said.
Tier one of the CDC’s vaccination plans includes critical health care workers. The exact definition of that group will depend on the number of vaccine doses available.
“We have put procedures in place already to try help identify those individuals that would be in that tier one vaccine period,” Korth said. “We’re starting to gather lists of individuals that want to take the vaccine.”
Multiple reports said vaccines could begin arriving in Tennessee next week. A mass public vaccine could still be well into the spring according to health officials.
As of Thursday, a total of 53 patients are being treated for COVID-19 at Cookeville Regional. The pandemic total stands at 818. A total of 88 patients have died. Korth said 330 medical center employees have been diagnosed with COVID since March. None have contracted the virus within the hospital.
At Thursday night’s Board of Trustees meeting, the board approved CRMC’s purchase of the Upper Cumberland Physicians Surgery Center. Cookeville Regional already owns 50 percent of the practice.
