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State, National Guard assisting with DHEC care line to hasten response time

This comes as DHEC continues to receive thousands of daily calls, after allowing seniors to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointment.

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — The State and National Guard are now assisting with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s (DHEC) call center operations.

This comes as the agency continues to receive thousands of calls a day to its ‘care line,’ after allowing those 70 and up to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

RELATED: DHEC works to add phone operators as SC seniors face challenges on first day of vaccine scheduling

According to DHEC, the guard joins over 60 operators processing calls, many with questions on how to sign-up for the coronavirus vaccine, but DHEC says not all calls are related to the virus.

After their agency reviews the call, DHEC operators can send the caller to the State Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) where the guard is assisting when call volumes are high.

“When DHEC’s Care Line went online to help people with appointments they were very quickly overloaded,” Derrec Becker, Chief of Public Information for SCEMD, said. “We activated the call center that we normally use during hurricanes and other disasters to help handle all those overflow calls, so people aren’t waiting on hold for so long.”

RELATED: DHEC getting roughly 24,000 calls a day, as vaccine demand continues to outweigh supply

Despite this process, Becker said they received roughly 250 calls on Monday, while DHEC said the care line itself is receiving upwards of 24,000 calls a day on average.

“We know it’s frustrating for folks. It’s just the sheer amount of people who have questions. We have those same questions. Bear with us,” Becker said.

In a statement DHEC said, “A vendor is being enlisted to handle all COVID-19 vaccine related calls. We'll have more information this as the details and logistics are finalized.”

Until then, they ask for patience.

RELATED: What you need to know when signing up for a COVID-19 vaccine

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