Opinion

Editorial: What do the COVID numbers say? Get vaccinated!

Thursday, July 22, 2021 -- Heed the advice of the Gov. Roy Cooper and Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Mandy Cohen: For the health and safety of ALL those in school and classroom settings - particularly inside elementary school and middle school facilities -- everyone should wear masks even if adults or students 12 and older have been fully vaccinated. The fastest way to suspend the safety and health restrictions is to end the need. The quickest way to do that is for EVERYONE to get vaccinated.

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CBC Editorial: Thursday, July 22, 2021; Editorial #8686
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
North Carolina’s troubling COVID-19 pandemic, by the numbers:
  • 1,028,131 positive COVID-cases.
  • 1,434 new cases reported in the most recent 24-hour period and the most in more than two months. The seven-day average is 1,043, a 60% increase in the last week.
  • 694 people currently in the hospital – 43% more than a week ago.
  • 13,550 deaths.
  • Merely 24% of kids 12 to 17 years old are fully vaccinated as schools are opening or about to open, according to N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen.
The number of people who are getting vaccinated has been dwindling. The highly contagious Delta strain of the COVID virus has reversed the downward trend of inflections. “Just had today our highest number of cases and hospitalizations in about two months,” Gov. Roy Cooper said during a briefing Wednesday. “This pandemic is not behind us yet.”
The better news, by the numbers:
  • 4,823,632 fully vaccinated in N.C. – 56% of the state’s adults.
  • 60% of the state’s 6.1 million adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
  • 83% of adults 65 or older are fully vaccinated.

Numbers to keep in perspective:

  • 4,659 “breakthrough” positive cases. It is less than 0.1 percent of all those vaccinated and less than 0.4% of the total positive cases.
  • 61 “breakthrough” deaths. That is less than 0.001% of those who have been fully vaccinated and 0.4% of the 13,550 COVID-19 deaths in the state.

So, the odds of getting COVID for those who are vaccinated? Remote, miniscule, microscopic.

“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have seen counties with lower vaccination rates have higher outbreaks, especially with this Delta variant,” Cooper said. “We’re in a race really against COVID-19 and the Delta variant.”

This isn’t about politics, wedge issues or the next election. It is about concern for family, neighbors and community.

Dr. Cohen was direct. “Get vaccinated right now if you haven’t. We are seeing the impact of the very contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 and it’s hitting those who are unvaccinated hard.”

Parents with older children, get vaccinated and get your children vaccinated before they start the new school year.

Even though the state’s mandate for mask-wearing in public schools will end at the start of August, schools, parents and kids should follow the advice in the latest version of the “StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit”

Heed the advice of the governor and Dr. Cohen: For the health and safety of ALL those in school and classroom settings – particularly inside elementary school and middle school facilities -- everyone should wear masks even if adults or students 12 and older have been fully vaccinated.

The fastest way to suspend the safety and health restrictions is to end the need. The quickest way to do that is for EVERYONE to get vaccinated.

Do it now. You can find a vaccination information and make an appointment HERE.
You have a spot. Get your shot.

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