This interview was conducted at the Henderson County Courthouse Annex on Wednesday, April 14.

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We discuss dispatcher's week and the county 911 District, and recent COVID-19 developments in this week's podcast with Henderson County Judge Wade McKinney.

911 District (:42)

April 11-17 is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week . With that in mind, McKinney and I discussed the Henderson County 911 Communications District and Board.

The 911 District is tasked with implementing and maintaining the 911 system for Henderson County. This includes responsibilities such as updating and repairing equipment and maintaining the 9-1-1 database.

"9-1-1 districts are set up under the Health and Safety Code," McKinney said. "They are primarily tasked with providing the capability for a 9-1-1 system."

This district is not directly responsible for what happens in dispatcher offices, but rather the system that connects residents to the dispatchers.

The district has a $750,000 budget.

COVID Update (14:12)

After multiple weeks of falling stats, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Trauma Service Area (TSA) that includes Henderson County have gone up three times in the past five days.

While the numbers are still low -- 79 hospitalized in a region with nearly 1 million residents -- the trend is something worth monitoring.

We also talked about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being paused because of some blood clot issues.

McKinney said the County will continue to work with Family Circle of Care for its vaccination clinics, which administer the Moderna vaccine. If you are interested in signing up for one of those clinics, you can do so here. https://bit.ly/countyregistration

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