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COVID numbers are rising, and one health official says people need to do more to turn that around.
COVID-19 testing conducted by Monongalia County Health Department and West Virginia University more than doubled Friday compared to the week before, rising from 105 July 30 to 286 last Friday.
At the same time, MCHD Clinical Services reported that individuals seeking COVID-19 vaccines steadily rising to about 10 per day. It was four to 10 vaccines per day during the last week in July.
Dr. Lee B. Smith, MCHD executive director and county health officer, said individuals need to do more now in order to turn the situation around as the more contagious and infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to rise.
“People have let their guard down,” Smith said. “They go on vacation and as soon as they get off the plane, they put their mask away. The vast majority cases are of the Delta variant. We know it’s more infectious and can cause more serious illness, particularly in those that are not vaccinated.”
Breakthrough cases in vaccinated individuals are also emerging, although the vaccine generally provides protection against severe symptoms and hospitalizations in those cases.
“It is my hope that more of those people who have said they want to wait and see about the vaccine have reached that point, because now it’s clear that those who are unvaccinated are at the highest risk of infection,” Smith said. “I understand that people are fatigued by COVID and they want to blame someone, but it continues to be spread by people who are not vaccinated and not acting in good conscience.”
Some larger cities in the United States have reinstituted mask mandates as cases go up and as COVID units in hospitals fill up. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice rescinded the state’s mask mandate for all individuals effective June 20.
“But if I were not vaccinated, I would wear a mask out of consideration for those who can’t be vaccinated,” Smith said. “I still don’t understand that people agree to ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service,’ but if you ask them to wear a mask, they want to have a fistfight.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov) updated mask guidance July 27, recommending that all unvaccinated individuals wear masks in public indoor settings, as well as vaccinated individuals in areas of high or substantial transmission.
The fact that COVID testing has risen dramatically and vaccines slightly are good signs but vaccine numbers still need to increase. West Virginia’s rate of fully vaccinated individuals was 49.5% as of Monday.
That’s slightly lower than the percentage of fully vaccinated Americans, according to the CDC, which puts that figure at 49.9% as of Aug. 5.
The rate in the United States of individuals with at least one dose recently reached 70%, which was the minimal goal to reach herd immunity. But, especially with the Delta variant spreading, health officials emphasize this number needs to rise.
Mon County Health Department has vaccine clinics in the community as well as by appointment at MCHD Clinical Services. MCHD employees will be at La Tapatia Food Market and Tacos on Green Bag Road from 3-6 p.m. Saturday to provide COVID-19 vaccines to employees as well as anyone 12 or older.
“If an organization believes that they have at least five or 10 people who would like a vaccine, we can come to them,” said Jennifer Goldcamp, registered nurse and program manager of MCHD Clinical Services.
For individuals who plan to travel, CDC offers guidance for hotpots of all kinds at cdc.gov/travel.
“It’s also a good idea to find out what the COVID rates are for the area you plan to visit and to make commonsense choices about safety measures based on your activities,” Smith said.
PCR testing conducted by MCHD and WVU is from 9 a.m.-noon Mondays and Fridays and from noon-3 p.m. Wednesdays at the WVU Rec Center.
Results are typically back within 24 hours.
Testing numbers had dwindle, but have been on the rise again.
Monongalia County has 17 positive COVID cases of the Delta variant. However, because not all positive cases are sequenced, and because there has been about a monthlong turnaround time to get these results back, this is not necessarily an accurate figure.
“That will be changing as sequencing capacity continues to increase,” said Dr. Diane K. Gross, MCHD’s regional epidemiologist.
The DHHR will be posting additional information to its COVID variant dashboard this week, she added.
According to the DHHR dashboard, the three-day rise in West Virginia cases was 665 Aug. 2.
That number was 1,037 Monday.
In addition to wearing masks in certain situations, Smith urges individuals to wash their hands frequently, avoid crowds and maintain social distance.
“We’re headed in the wrong direction,” he added. “It gives us concern that people are on vacation and that people aren’t always using caution. I would ask people to show a little bit of respect for their neighbors.”
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