Chick-fil-A helps direct congested traffic at the site of the COVID-19 SC drive-thru vaccine
A South Carolina mayor turned to Chick-fil-A to help with congested traffic at a COVID-19 vaccination unit – taking the waiting time from one hour to just 15 minutes.
MONTE PLEASANT, SC – No company can dominate a drive-thru like Chick-fil-A, and a restaurant manager is getting a lot of praise for using the company’s method to help workers at a COVID-19 vaccination site after a computer crash caused traffic congestion.
Mayor Will Haynie said he was notified on January 22 that traffic was paralyzed for an hour at the COVID-19 vaccination site at Seacoast Church. He called Chick-fil-A manager Jerry Walkowiak for help, knowing that the company had a great reputation for mastering the art of drive-thru.
Haynie said she already had a manager’s number for a friend who also worked at the restaurant.
“I called him [Walkowiak] on my way and he really got there before me, “Haynie told FOX television stations on Monday.” He was there. He was moving people. “
Haynie tweeted a video from the site.
“Chic Fil A manager Jerry Walkowiak is donating his professional experience to help our Mt. Pleasant vaccination program today,” Haynie posted. “When you need help, call the professionals.”
Haynie said that Walkowiak, while standing in the cold rain, used the Chick-fil-A method to speed up the drive-thru, including walking to drivers in advance to make sure they had the paperwork and immediately directing them to a place to receive your vaccine.
Haynie said Walkowiak managed to reduce the wait from one hour to 15 minutes.
“All of these problems were fixed as things progressed. Thank you for your patience. A software failure at the beginning caused a 1 hour delay,” the mayor replied later. “Chic Fil A to the rescue!”
Haynie said he plans to use Walkowiak and Chick-fil-A again in the future to help with distribution locations.
RELATED: New York City Delays Mass Vaccination Sites Due to Shortages
On Sunday, the state health department said South Carolina received 542,750 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and administered 277,258 doses. People aged 70 and over are available to receive the vaccine, in addition to medical personnel.
Coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the U.S. have dropped sharply in recent weeks, but are still at alarming levels, and the effort to extinguish COVID-19 is becoming an increasingly urgent race between the vaccine and the mutant virus.
Deaths averaged just under 3,100 a day, compared with more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago. The average number of new cases is about 170,000 per day, after reaching a peak of almost 250,000 on January 11. The number of COVID-19 patients at the hospital in the U.S. dropped to about 110,000 from a maximum of 132,000 on January 7.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. The story was reported from Los Angeles.