Starting on Thursday, January 21^st, the general public will begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine from Scotland Health and the Scotland County Health Department. Both Scotland Health and the Scotland County Health Department are eager to begin providing mass vaccinations to patients who are at least 65 years of age, following guidance from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.  

At this time vaccines will be given by appointment due to current vaccine supplies and staffing logistics. There are multiple Vaccine Clinics for Scotland Health. The Outpatient Endo Center located at 205 Lauchwood Drive is for the general public over 65. Scotland Health’s primary care centers will be used as clinics for each practices’ established patients to help increase scheduling capacity for the Outpatient Endo Center location. The Scotland County Health Department has designated the Emergency Operations Center as their vaccine clinic location located at 1403 West Boulevard. Phone lines for scheduling will open at 9 am on Tuesday, January 19^th and appointments will begin on Thursday, January 21^st.  

Three re-elected Marlboro County Council members took the oath of office at Tuesday's meeting.
Magistrate Judge Grover McQueen administered the oath to Charles Paul Midgley Jr., Kenneth Stroman, and Verd Odom.
New board member Dr. Damien Johnson will be sworn in at a later date due to self-quarantining. Johnson attended the meeting on Zoom.
Both Chairman Jason Steen and Vice-Chairman Corrie Plato were re-elected to their positions.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will look a bit different this year due to COVID-19.
Instead of in-person events, Marlboro County residents will have an opportunity to honor the slain civil rights leader through some socially distanced events.
Normally, an annual community breakfast is held but this year, Marlboro School Community Center will have their annual MLK Celebration in the parking lot behind the building, 612 King Street in Bennettsville at 10 a.m. Jan. 18.
Organizers asked that participants enter the parking lot on Powers Street. 

The county has seen an increase in its number of active cases of COVID-19.
John Douglas of CareSouth Carolina gave an update about COVID-19 during the Marlboro County School District Community Zoom meeting on Tuesday.
"Things aren't good in Marlboro County but they're better than they are in surrounding counties," he said at the beginning of the update.
As of Monday, he said, the active number of cases of COVID was 294, which was the highest since the pandemic began. It was up from 206 a week ago.
Out of the eight Pee Dee counties, Marlboro County is the fifth highest in terms of active cases.
Douglas said the county has no zip codes in the top 15 in terms of total cases or rate of cases in the Pee Dee.

CLIO — Clio Mayor Ben Petrone feels he can see the light at the end of the tunnel in regards to audit issues of the town.
"And it is not a locomotive heading at me anymore," he said.
Town officials have worked for several years to get the audits of the town current.
The town is working with new auditors Sheheen, Hancock, and Godwin LLP of Camden. Officials have been assured by the new auditor that he can catch up with all of the back audits by the end of January or the end of February at the latest.