Tarrant COVID hot line gets 17,000 calls a week; expect more than an hour on hold
More than 17,000 people are calling the Tarrant County Public Health COVID-19 hotline in one week, stretching resources thin and forcing leaders to figure out how to handle the volume.
The hotline (817-248-6299) is the only way someone without internet can register for the vaccine. Several people have told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that they spent more than an hour on hold. One woman said she has tried unsuccessfully for more than a week to register.
The county’s advice? Stay on the line.
“We are working to increase the staffing and are looking at what it would take to bring on a call center to meet the current and expected growing need,” Tarrant Count Public Health spokesperson Brian Murnahan said.
County officials have been talked with call center operators and people at the UNT Health Science Center to see if hiring an outside firm is a solution to handling the call volume, Murnahan said. The UNTHSC already provides the county with contract tracers.
Murnahan didn’t say how many people are taking vaccine registration calls, but said the hold time has exceeded an hour for the last two weeks.
He asked that people who have gotten a confirmation about their registration to stop calling the hotline to check on their status.
“You are in the database, and we will get you scheduled as soon as possible,” he said. “We are encouraging our community resource groups to reach out to their communities, to the people that they know have needed help historically and helping them to register for the vaccine.”
Murnahan said seniors can go to libraries, community centers and service organizations for help.
