The following is a summary of the presentation during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioners meeting.The summary below was provided by Jim Burke, producer of KPTZ’s Tuesday’s Local News.
This morning, Dr. Allison Berry and Willie Bence submitted a Public Health report to the Jefferson Board of County Commissioners and answered questions. Dr. Berry said that the BB 1.1 variant, which is causing a surge in the US on the east coast, is far less prevalent here, and that the high uptake of the bi-valent booster here in Jefferson County is helping to keep those numbers down. In Jefferson County, the two-week case rate is 246 cases per 100,000 people. 1 person is currently hospitalized, and 43 new cases were added this week for a total of 6,723 cases since the pandemic began. The total number of people lost in Jefferson County to COVID-19 holds steady at 34. Jefferson County Public Health staff estimate that 1 in 10 COVID-19 cases in the county were reported to public health last week. Dr. Berry says that the case ascertainment rate indicates there’s an estimated 430 cases here in Jefferson County currently, and the case rate could be over 2000 per hundred thousand.
Sustained decreases in RSV and Influenza are happening right now. One man in his 70s was lost due to influenza this past week. He had underlying health conditions and was not vaccinated against the flu. Dr. Berry continues to stress that we should all continue with masking, keeping up to date with the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters. The risk of COVID-19 transmission in public, indoor places is still HIGH. At this level, it’s strongly recommended everyone wear a well-fitting, high-quality mask in public, indoor settings. https://www.jeffersoncountypublichealth.org/1466/Case-Information has all the numbers.
There will be two Health Reports in February so, the first Monday, February 6 and the third Monday is Presidents Day, so Tuesday February 21 for that second February report. Submit your Public Health questions to Dr. Allison Berry and Willie Bence by emailing contactus@kptz.org by Friday February 3 at noon, to be answered the following Monday February 6, at 9:45am on KPTZ during the Jim B. Show hosted by yours truly!
