Gwinnett County Government and the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments worked together to convert the bottom floor of the former Sears building at Gwinnett Place Mall into a mass vaccination center that will accommodate immunizing up to 3,000 people a day as vaccines become available.

“GNR Health is thrilled to partner with Gwinnett County to provide a static mass vaccination site that is central to serve our county,” said Dr. Audrey Arona, district health director of the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments. “We a owe debt of gratitude to Chairwoman Hendrickson and her team for their contribution, including quickly readying the space for our use.”

The 80,000-square-foot site will be available for vaccinations starting Saturday, Feb. 6 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but appointments are required. Appointments can only be made at www.GNRHealth.com/covid-vaccine-scheduling. Individuals should bring an insurance card, photo ID, and proof of employment, such as a hospital badge, if applicable, to the appointment. Anyone needing assistance with mobility or other issues should bring someone with them to the appointment to help. Second dose appointments are made during the first appointment.

Currently, the limited supply of vaccines is reserved for health care workers, first responders, long-term care staff and their residents, and adults 65 and older and their caregivers.

GNR Health is scheduling appointments according to the supply of vaccine on hand. Currently, GNR Health is vaccinating about 1,000 people a day in Gwinnett County.

Previously the Health Department was vaccinating at the Lawrenceville Health Center. All second-dose appointments made at that location will now be served at Gwinnett Place. 

Initially the former Sears building vaccination center will be able to accommodate shots for up to 1,000 people a day but eventually will be able to vaccinate up to 3,000 people daily as more vaccine is allocated.

The space is organized with social distancing in mind with directional signs and floor markers telling people where to stand safely apart. The public will enter through the main doors where they will be checked in and then follow stanchions to vaccination stations. After getting a shot, they will be allowed to rest in a large observation area for 15 to 30 minutes. Paramedics will be onsite for emergencies.

The location was converted from vacant space to a vaccination center in about two weeks.

“This has been a very gratifying project,” said Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Nicole Hendrickson. “This will help protect the community and help us get back to normal, so the staff was very enthusiastic about getting this done. It took a lot of coordination with GNR Health and the Department of Support Services with planning, Fire and Emergency Services with inspections, Planning and Development with plan review and onsite inspections, and Transportation with traffic improvements, to name just a few departments that worked to get the site up and running. It was a great team effort, and I’m really proud of everyone involved.”

The Sears space is being leased to the County at no cost from NW Duluth LLC through Dec. 31. The County and GNR Health considered several sites before settling on the old Sears building because it was in fairly good shape.

Once the contract was approved in late January, numerous county employees, consultants and contractors went to work to tune up the heating and air conditioning, install electrical outlets for computers, replace ceiling tiles, repair plumbing, lay out stanchions for crowd control, give the space a deep cleaning, produce interior and exterior signs, repair the parking lot, and add handicap signage and pavement markings.

Drive-thru testing services at the site will be added in February.

Funding for the project was covered by the federal CARES Act.

GNR Health needs volunteers to help staff the vaccination center. People interested in helping should contact the Medical Reserve Corps, MRC GEM, at www.mrcgem.com/join. Volunteers do not have to be a medical professional to join and can serve in a non-clinical capacity.

View the Press Conference

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is Sunday, February 7.

Black people make up 13% of the population in the United States but account for 43% of new HIV diagnoses.

Among black people, most new HIV diagnoses were among men, but over one third of new diagnoses were woman, and 92% of those women acquired HIV through heterosexual contact.

Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments is committed to helping reduce HIV infections in our counties. We believe that together, we CAN stop HIV in its tracks, and we’re here to help by providing the HIV education, testing and prevention you need to protect yourself.

Start reducing your chances of acquiring or spreading HIV by contacting or visiting* the health department to:

Get free condoms.

Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. In addition, consistent and correct use of latex condoms reduces the risk of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Condoms are available at no cost to you at each of our health centers or by mail.

Sign up for condoms by mail.

Find a health center near you.

Start PrEP.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, called PrEP, is a daily pill that lowers your chances of acquiring HIV when used as prescribed. It’s just one pill a day! The health department offers two types of PrEP, Truvada and Descovy.

Learn more about PrEP.

Know your HIV status.

The health department offers free HIV testing in our health centers or at home.
Some people with HIV are unaware they have it. People who don’t know they have HIV can’t get the care and treatment they need and may transmit HIV to others without knowing it.

By staying up-to-date on HIV status, individuals can take medicine to treat HIV if they have the virus. Taking HIV medicine every day can make the viral load undetectable. People who get and keep an undetectable viral load (or remain virally suppressed) can stay healthy for many years and have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their sex partners. Undetectable = untransmissible!

Get tested for HIV at one of our health centers.

Have a home HIV test kit mailed directly to you.

In addition to reducing your chances for spreading or acquiring HIV, one of the most important things you can do to help stop HIV infections from gaining a stronghold in your community is to:

Talk openly about HIV to reduce the stigma.

When you talk about how you are protecting yourself from HIV or about getting tested for HIV, it helps others feel comfortable taking important steps to protect their own health, too.

If you’d like to learn more about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day visit:

aidsvu.org
HIV.gov

Let’s all work to #StopHIVTogether!

*Due to COVID-19, some services require appointments and some services may only be available at certain locations.

For HIV statistical data, visit cdc.gov.

The Health Department will be closed for regular health center and district office services on Monday, January 18 to observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

COVID-19 vaccine, however, will be administered Monday, January 18 to individuals who have vaccination appointments.

Individuals wishing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 need to have an appointment. Walk-ins not accepted.

Appointments cannot be made at our health centers. Appointments can be scheduled online when available. All appointment slots are currently full. For future availability, check here.

We wish everyone a safe and happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We resume normal business hours Tuesday, January 19.

Appointments are available online for individuals in Phase 1A.

On December 30, Governor Brian Kemp and Commissioner Kathleen Toomey announced that Georgia would expand COVID-19 Vaccination Phase 1A to include a larger priority group, including law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders and individuals 65 and older. The expanded administration of vaccine is dependent on vaccine supply and capacity. We ask for everyone’s continued patience.

Because of the high demand for vaccinations, we recommend checking availability with your local healthcare provider as vaccines become more available in our communities.

The Georgia Department of Public Health and Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments are following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for prioritizing vaccination.

More information will be available on our website regarding how to make an appointment when we expand vaccine availability. If you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, please call the Georgia COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline: (888) 357-0169.

On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments received our first allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine – just under 2,000 doses. This is an exciting time for the Health Department because we’ve been planning for this stage of the response all along, and we are hopeful this will help us get back to normal quickly. Front-line health department employees were the first to receive their vaccines upon arrival Wednesday.

We have been planning for weeks as to how we will distribute these initial doses. Those plans are now in motion. We are also sharing our initial doses with local hospitals, so doctors and nurses on the front lines will be first to get the vaccine while the hospitals await their first shipments.

Phase 1A also includes our EMS providers, which the Health Department has already made plans to start immunizing this week. We’re also working with a couple of large primary care physician offices with locations across our counties. Because we’re helping provide these healthcare workers their first doses of vaccine, once they receive their vaccine allotments, they will be ready to immunize individuals in Phase 1.

Long-term care and assisted living facilities, which are also included in this phase, have a contract through CVS and Walgreens for their vaccines.

We understand the concerns of those who are cautious about the vaccine. We believe vaccination is the safest way to introduce immunity into our community. Being a member of our immunization team, district health director Dr. Audrey Arona, was immunized Wednesday. As the phases continue to roll out, when you get an opportunity to get vaccinated, we hope you choose to do so.

District Health Director Dr. Audrey Arona is vaccinated against COVID-19 at the district health office.

The holidays can be stressful for everyone, but you CAN balance the hustle and bustle of the season while staying healthy. We’ll show you how.

Join us on Zoom, from the comfort of your home or office, December 9 11:30 a.m. or December 16 5:30 p.m. (or both!) to learn healthy recipes, ways to stay active and tips for reducing holiday stress.

Register online today to receive Zoom event information.

If you have questions, contact Adriana Scurry in Community Health. Call 678-442-6891 or email her at adriana.scurry@gnrhealth.com.

Due to COVID-19, getting an influenza (flu) vaccine is more important than ever this year!

Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease that can lead to serious illness, hospitalization or even death in some cases. CDC recommends everyone six months and older receive an annual influenza vaccine because getting a flu vaccine every year is the best way to protect yourself and loved ones against getting the flu.

By getting a flu shot, you’ll be doing your part help protect essential workers and save medical resources for the care and treatment of patients with COVID-19.

Three simple steps can help prevent the spread of flu in your community:

Mask up.
Wear a mask when you are around others that do not live in your household.

Lather up.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If you don’t have access to soap and water, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

Sleeve up and get your flu vaccine!
The Health Department offers flu vaccine. Find a location today.

If you’d like to read more about seasonal flu, including prevention, symptoms and treatment options, please visit CDC.

Our administrative office and health centers as well as our COVID-19 test sites and call center will be closed Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28 in observance Thanksgiving.

COVID-19 testing will resume Saturday, November 28. We will resume normal business hours Monday, November 30.

If you need to make an appointment for COVID-19 testing, you can do so online on our COVID-19 information page or check with our partners at CORE.

We wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving, and, remember to celebrate safely:

Wear a mask.

Practice social distancing.

Wash your hands.

Join us December 1 at Rhodes Jordan Park

This World AIDS Day, we’ll be at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville on December 1 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. to educate the community about HIV prevention and to offer free testing and give-a-ways. If you can’t make it, HIV testing is always free at our health centers.

Individuals can learn how to protect themselves and others from HIV/AIDS if they know the facts.

In 2019, there were 38 million people living with HIV – 36.2 million adults and 1.8 million children 14 years and younger. Only 81% of all people living with HIV know they have it, which means about 7.1 million people do not know they have it.

Youth aged 13 to 24 made up 21% of the 37,832 new HIV diagnoses in the United States (US) and dependent areas in 2018!

There is a lot everyone can do to help prevent HIV infections and help those living with HIV in our community:

Get correct information on HIV/AIDS

Get tested

Take PrEP for HIV Prevention

Talk openly about HIV to help end HIV stigma

We work to help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic year round by offering community education, free HIV testing, PrEP for HIV Prevention and condom subscription services to residents of our three counties who are 16 years old or older.

If you’d like more information about our HIV program or would like to get tested or start PrEP, give our HIV program manager a call today at 678-442-6897 Ext. 135.

Doing It — Reasons Why You Should Get Tested for HIV

The Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments are closing early on Friday, November 20, 2020 for a staff meeting. We will resume normal business hours Monday, November 23.

COVID-19 testing is available after 1 p.m. at CORE locations and other locations throughout the counties. To make a testing appointment or to locate other testing sites, visit www.gnrhealth.com/covid-19-info.