Avoiding the Wait
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Project1:Layout 1 6/10/2014 1:13 PM Page 1 Football: Pitts will be back with Gators Saturday /B1 TUESDAY TODAY CITRUSCOUNTY & next morning HIGH 79 Sunny and LOW pleasant. 59 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com NOVEMBER 24, 2020 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community 50¢ VOL. 126 ISSUE 47 NEWS BRIEFS Third Citrus County Avoiding the wait COVID-19 vaccine update According to the Flor- effective ida Department of Health, 28 new positive cases were reported in Citrus County since the in trials latest update. Two new hospitalizations were re- DANICA KIRKA ported; one new death Associated Press was reported. To date in the county, LONDON — Drug- maker AstraZeneca 4,358 people have tested said Monday that late- positive (including 21 non- stage trials showed its residents), 400 have COVID-19 vaccine is been hospitalized and highly effective, buoy- 158 have died. ing the prospects of a BH crash relatively cheap, easy- to-store product that critically injures may become the vac- 5-year-old girl cine of choice for the developing world. A young girl was criti- The results are based cally injured and a few on an interim analysis of others were also hurt in a trials in the U.K. and four-vehicle collision on a Brazil of a vaccine devel- Beverly Hills roadway. oped by Oxford Univer- According to a Florida sity and manufactured Highway Patrol (FHP) re- MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle by AstraZeneca. No hos- port, the noontime crash David Stimson, Pharm. D., prepares a patient’s sample to be tested for COVID-19 on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, at pitalizations or severe on Monday, Nov. 23, Brashear’s Pharmacy in Inverness. The pharmacy is now utilizing a rapid-testing analyzer that reveals test results cases of COVID-19 were 2020, occurred on in 15 minutes. reported in those receiv- County Road 491, north ing the vaccine. AstraZeneca is the of West Hampshire New coronavirus tests available locally with quick results third major drug com- Boulevard. pany to report late-stage A 17-year-old girl from FRED HIERS data for a potential Ocala was driving a Staff writer COVID-19 vaccine as the sedan south on C.R. 491 world waits for scientific The wait for results of a coronavi- while a 60-year-old breakthroughs that will rus test can be long and stressful. woman from Ocala was end a pandemic that has It can also be dangerous, as stopped ahead of her in pummeled the world some people don’t quarantine economy and led to an SUV, according to the themselves before they get the re- 1.4 million deaths. But FHP report, which doesn’t sults and in the meantime are out unlike the others, the ID involved motorists due exposing others to the potentially Oxford-AstraZeneca to Marsy’s Law. deadly virus. vaccine doesn’t have to FHP’s report states the Others need the results to allow be stored at freezer tem- teen didn’t slow in time them back to work. And as they peratures, making it po- for the SUV, which led to await the results, each day’s wait A patient is swabbed Friday, Nov 20, 2020, outside of Brashear’s Pharmacy tentially easier to is a lost day’s pay. her sedan striking the in Inverness as rapid COVID-19 testing is now available at the pharmacy. distribute, especially in Beginning last Friday, Nov. 20, SUV’s rear. Neither the David Stimson, Pharm. D., administers the test. developing countries. 2020, Brashear’s Pharmacy in Inver- teen or the woman were “I think these are re- ness offers rapid response testing for 206 W. Dampier St., offers the test- community,” said Elis Brashear, injured. ally exciting results,” the coronavirus that will give cus- ing from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday pharmacist and manager of the In order to avoid a colli- Dr. Andrew Pollard, tomers results in just 15 minutes. through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to store in Inverness. sion, a second SUV trav- chief investigator for Along with some basic health 1 p.m. Saturdays. Pharmacists are already trained eling south behind the the trial, said at a news questions and paperwork before The pharmacy will be the only to administer vaccinations and teen’s sedan swerved conference. “Because the test, customers can be out the location in the county to offer the pharmacies are streamlined to the vaccine can be into a northbound lane of door with test results in under half rapid test. provide the service, unlike doctors’ stored at fridge tem- C.R. 491, and into the an hour. “This is just one more way we offices that require appointments peratures, it can be dis- path of a sedan, causing The pharmacy has two locations, can keep our neighbors and fami- or the county’s health department tributed around the a crash. but only the Inverness one on lies healthier and protect our See TESTS/Page A2 A pair of 30-year-old world using the normal women in the second immunization distribu- tion system. And so our SUV — its driver from goal … to make sure Summerfield, and a pas- County virus cases increasing that we have a vaccine senger from Beverly Hills that was accessible ev- — were seriously injured, BUSTER THOMPSON died, bringing the death count to according to AHCA, and 30% of erywhere, I think we’ve and a 5-year-old girl from Staff writer 158. local adult intensive care units actually managed to do Beverly Hills traveling COVID-19 data on the FDOH were open. that.” with them was critically Citrus County marked its dashboard is subject to change as As of Nov. 20, since the 2020-21 The Oxford- injured, according to the COVID-19 cases at 4,358 by Mon- epidemiological investigations academic year began Aug. 20, AstraZeneca vaccine FHP report. day, Nov. 23, 2020, according to reveal new information about a there have been 169 COVID-19 was 90% effective in FHP’s report states the Florida Department of case. cases on Citrus County School preventing COVID-19 in none of those riding in the Health. According to the Florida District campuses, up 18 since one of the dosing regi- vehicle were either wear- It’s an increase of 339 infec- Agency for Health Care Adminis- Nov. 16. Of those cases, 105 were mens tested; it was less ing a seatbelt or were in a tions since Monday, Nov. 16, at an tration (AHCA) on Monday, the students and 64 were school staff. effective in another. average of 48 cases a day. county had 60 people in hospital Long-term care facilities in the child seat. Earlier this month, rival Another 22 coronavirus hospi- with a primary diagnosis of county have documented a total A 66-year-old woman drugmakers Pfizer and talizations were documented COVID-19. 782 cases, up 50 since Nov. 16, ac- Moderna reported pre- from Ocala driving the over the week in the county, total- There was also 23% of hospital cording to the FDOH. liminary results from northbound sedan was ing 400, and nine more people beds available in the county, See CASES/Page A5 late-stage trials showing seriously injured, accord- their vaccines were al- ing to the FHP report, most 95% effective. which noted she wasn’t While the AstraZen- wearing a seat belt. eca vaccine can be stored at 36 degrees to Thanksgiving 46 degrees Fahrenheit, dinner offered to Cindy Hazzard: A woman of note the Pfizer and Moderna first responders products must be stored Springs Community Center, and at freezer temperatures. The Beverly Hills many times we’d need extra In Pfizer’s case, it must American Legion Post chairs and sometimes had to be kept at the ultra-cold 237, 6726 N. Lecanto NANCY KENNEDY turn people away,” she said. temperature of around Hwy., will provide free Staff writer “Cindy was the heart of the minus-94 Fahrenheit. meals for first responders band.” The AstraZeneca vac- and veterans. As a conductor, when Cindy Cynthia L. (Despathy-Plourde) cine is also cheaper. Any police, fire, sheriff Hazzard stood before a group of Hazzard-Hettinger died Nov. 14, AstraZeneca, which or EMT personnel on musicians, whether it was a full 2020, from COVID-19. She was 76. has pledged it won’t duty that day may stop by symphony orchestra or her Her life was music: playing it, make a profit on the the Post from 1 to 3 p.m. beloved Nature Coast Commu- teaching it, conducting it, enjoy- vaccine during the pan- ing it. demic, has reached for an eat-in or take out nity Band, as she raised her baton ready to begin, she She was a trombonist with the See VACCINE/Page A5 meal. Boston Women’s Symphony, Meals will also be de- glowed. “She glowed during the per- started bands and orchestras, COMING SOON livered to the Sheriff’s Of- taught kids and adults through- fice Emergency Center formances because of the audi- Citrus County ences,” said Judy Williams, out New England. personnel on duty that After a career in music per- resident NCCB board president. “We participates in day. Veterans will also be have a wonderful following, formance and education, Cindy served during this period retired to Florida in 2002, set- AstraZeneca study. friends of the band, many who STEPHEN E. LASKO/Chronicle file photo Read more about it of time. became personal friends with tling in Pine Ridge. In this March 2020 photo, Maestro Cindy Hazzard in an upcoming For information, call the Cindy.