Have you rolled up your sleeve for your second booster?
Well, this is your moment, Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters on Wednesday.
Fauci, the nation’s top infectious expert, was talking about such moments during an interview with The Associated Press.
While cases do appear to be waning, COVID-19, he said, is still keeping company on these shores.
“We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” he said.
That includes West Virginia, where the contagion is still whispering along.
West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources charted 719 active cases across the state as of that day.
That includes the 42 active cases in Monongalia County and the 13 in Preston.
Neighboring Marion and Harrison in north-central West Virginia were showing 26 and 23 cases, respectively, that day.
With more than 6,800 deaths recorded to date and 91 people currently in the hospital due to COVID, state residents are still falling ill, Jamie Moore said.
Moore, who is manager of Threat Preparedness for the Monongalia Health Department, said it never hurts to state the clinically obvious.
Not during these days, he said.
“What we do know is that people who get vaccinated tend to have better outcomes if they get sick – and that they don’t get sick as often,” he said.
And, as the above numbers show, West Virginians, even with the reduced numbers, are still falling ill to the coronavirus and its variants.
“The disease has occurred in waves throughout the entire time we’ve been dealing with it,” Moore said.
“Currently, we are making observations about the most current variant, BA.2, and how much disease it can create,” he continued.
He does know that you can go to the health department’s website — www.monchd.org/ — and click on the COVID vaccine scheduling link to get started.
Depending upon one’s overall health, those supplemental boosters can go into the arms of people as young as 12.
Your COVID booster can also be administered at the same time as a flu shot, and if lost your vaccine card, that can be replaced by ordering a new one online, also.
Visit www.vaccines.gov through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out locations in your area where you can go for your booster. The shot is administered in locations all across West Virginia.
Being adequately boosted, Moore said, means being equipped with a measure of certainty in still-uncertain times.
“We really don’t know what the future holds,” Moore said. “That’s why it’s important to protect yourself.”
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