If you are like me, you are tired of people ignoring health recommendations related to COVID-19. Although most statewide pandemic-related health orders were lifted in June 2021, Ohioans are still at considerable risk for COVID-19 illness. The Ohio Department of Health urges all people to continue to follow safe protocols to protect themselves and others, especially those individuals who are not fully vaccinated.
Recommendations from the Ohio Department of Health include the following:
Vaccination. If you are eligible (12 or older) and can safely do so, get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Masking. If you are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, wear a mask that covers the nose, mouth, and chin to help you protect yourself and others.
Social Distancing. If you are not fully vaccinated attempt to maintain at least 6 feet of distancing from others, avoid gathering in groups with other unvaccinated people when possible, and if you do gather with other unvaccinated people, maintain groups of no more than 10 people, separated from other groups by at least 6 feet.
Exposure. Anyone with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 should stay away from others and seek medical care if necessary.
Since mid-July, the delta variant has driven a spike in cases and hospitalizations throughout the state and country.
Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says …
“This wave is having is very serious impact on our hospitals. This is not restricted to people of very advanced age anymore. We’re having people of all ages in our hospital beds, of all ages in our ICUs and sadly of all ages dying. And we can prevent that and we can protect ourselves from that by vaccination.”
It's time to face the facts: those who refuse to vaccinate and to follow precautions and state recommendations pose a serious risk to countless others.
The vaccine status in Ohio is currently 52.52% (9/9/2021) and Scioto County's status is 42.57%. Yale Medicine reports at the start of the pandemic, figures like 60 to 70% were given as estimates of how much of the population would need immunity from the coronavirus in order to reach herd immunity.
However, with the increase in variants, which are more infectious and could potentially impact the effectiveness of the vaccines, that percentage is now estimated to be higher – some say up to 85%. And it has become more difficult to pin down.
Also, it seems that infection-associated immunity wanes over time. Calculations for herd immunity consider two sources of individual immunity – vaccines and natural infection. People who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 seem to develop some immunity to the virus, but how long that lasts remains a question. Now the reality of of needing booster shots looms large.
The lack of a clear end goal has hindered America’s anti-pandemic efforts from the start. At first, the goal of restrictions was to "flatten the curve": to keep the number of cases low enough that hospitals could treat those that did arise. But that consensus crumbled against the reality of the coronavirus — leaving the country with patchwork restrictions and no clear idea of what it meant to “beat” Covid-19, let alone a strategy to achieve a victory.
Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter for The New York Times, who focuses on science and global health and who is the 2019 winner of the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, writes …
“If the herd immunity threshold is not attainable, what matters most is the rate of hospitalizations and deaths after pandemic restrictions are relaxed, experts believe ... By focusing on vaccinating the most vulnerable, the United States has already brought those numbers down sharply. If the vaccination levels of that group continue to rise, the expectation is that over time the coronavirus may become seasonal, like the flu, and affect mostly the young and healthy.”
(Apoorva Mandavilli. “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe.”
The New York Times. July 21, 2021.)
“The virus is unlikely to go away,” said Rustom Antia, an evolutionary biologist at Emory University in Atlanta. “But we want to do all we can to check that it’s likely to become a mild infection.”
“What we want to do at the very least is get to a point where we have just really sporadic little flare-ups,” said Carl Bergstrom, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “That would be a very sensible target in this country where we have an excellent vaccine and the ability to deliver it.”
So, Here Is the Sad State of Present Affairs
We in Scioto County are still experiencing extremely high numbers of cases of COVID-19. The test positivity rate in Scioto County is very high, suggesting that cases are being significantly undercounted. The daily average on September 8 is 79. This represents a 14-day change of +61%. Because of high spread, the C.D.C. recommends that even vaccinated people wear masks here.
(Tracking Coronavirus in Scioto County, Ohio.” The New York Times. Updated September 09, 2021.)
Now, we go indoors to public places in Scioto and see many people without masks who are not even practicing social distancing. I took a trip to Krogers last week and discovered the employees were not wearing masks … although a public address announcement encouraged shoppers to do so. This food establishment was typical of the lack of adherence to health recommendations in general across the county.
In addition, area schools are currently experiencing a large increase in the number of absences from students as well as staff. Some have already returned to 100% virtual/online learning.
Southern Ohio Medical Center is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by September 17. The facility is reporting a significant increase of COVID impatients from last week. They are encouraging vaccines and asking everyone to help prevent the spread to ensure they can continue providing healthcare to the region.
The bottom line – the virus is here and attacking people with a vengeance – those not vaccinated and even those vaccinated. It is clear: the vaccines provide great but not perfect protection, the virus is probably always going to be with us in some form.
Still, the nonbelievers and the non-vaxxers stubbornly refuse to follow health advisories. They do not vaccinate. They do not mask. And, they gather in groups without social distancing. In disgraceful disobedience, they expose other innocent folks to potential danger in the name of their “personal freedom.” In language locals will surely understand, one must ask with appropriate vulgar, alliterative slang, “What the fuck is wrong with you fucking fucks?”
These irresponsible human beings gladly dismiss their simple responsibilities to public welfare while ignoring any personal blame for infections, illness, long-term health problems, and even death. For that I say, “God damn you.”
The vaccines have have held up in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death – reducing the risk of each by roughly 90 percent among adults age 65 or older, compared to no vaccine. Research has also found stricter restrictions reduce Covid-19 spread and death, and that masks and social distancing work.
(Moline HL, Whitaker M, Deng L, et al. Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines in Preventing Hospitalization Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years — COVID-NET, 13 States, February–April 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1088-1093.)
(Howard, Jeremy et al. “An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. NAS January 26, 2021 118.)
(Khataee, Hamid et al. “Effects of social distancing on the spreading of COVID-19 inferred from mobile phone data. Scientific Reports volume 11, Article number: 1661. 2021)
Follow recommendations and take all precautions to help end this pandemic. Continue to vaccinate, mask, social distance, and limit exposure. At 42.57% vaccination rate and with variants infecting even those who have received their shots, Scioto County is a place of considerable peril. By the way, Scioto is 88th in worst health outcomes and 85th in worst health factors in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's “2020 County Health Rankings for the 88 Ranked Counties in Ohio.” Wake up. Be responsible. Be safe.
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