North Central Health District

County Health Departments Scaling Back Services to Respond to COVID-19

Posted March 22, 2020 by Michael Hokanson

Limited Services and No Walk-Ins at County Health Departments

MACON – With the increasing number of local confirmed cases of COVID-19, North Central Health District (NCHD) county health departments are limiting services to only the most crucial public health services. Our goal is to protect the health of our clients, health department staff members, residents and communities by focusing our efforts on COVID-19 response.

Public health departments in Baldwin, Crawford, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Macon-Bibb, Monroe, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs, Washington and Wilkinson Counties will be limited to the following clinical services until further notice:

• STD & HIV testing
• Birth control
• Tuberculosis program
• Immunizations for children age 5 and younger
• Tdap vaccination
• Hepatitis A vaccination
• Medicaid enrollment for women’s health and pregnancy
• WIC program vouchers
• Emergency dental services (at Houston and Macon-Bibb County Health Departments)

In addition to limiting clinical services, NCHD is also taking measures to keep county health departments compliant with social distancing guidelines. As a precautionary measure to limit the number of people closely gathered in waiting rooms, health departments are not accepting walk-in clients at this time and late clinic hours are suspended. Effective immediately and until further notice, anyone in need of clinical services should call ahead to make an appointment.

County Environmental Health services are operating as usual, but there may be delays and limited service delivery in some areas. Please call your local Environmental Health office to confirm availability.

Contact your local health department if you have any questions or to schedule an appointment.

For more information about COVID-19, including local case counts and guidance for organizations, visit NCHD52.org/coronavirus.