The Shadow
The latest wave of COVID-19 infections continues to hit young people in higher proportions.
In the past week, 957 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the districts.
Dr. Cynthia Morrow, the medical director for the health districts, said approximately 25 percent of the new cases involve people under the age of 18. Fifty percent are people who are under the age of 34.
“This does not surprise us … but it’s certainly discerning,” Morrow said during her weekly online media briefing on Tuesday.
Children under 12 are susceptible to the virus because they cannot be vaccinated.
Morrow said overall trends continue to indicate that most people who contract COVID and require hospitalization are unvaccinated. Young people, she said, are less likely to get vaccinated.
In Virginia, she said, a person is 15 times more likely to contract COVID if they have not been vaccinated.
“We need to continue to do everything we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones,” said Morrow in stressing the need for people to get vaccinated.
She also reemphasized the need for masks in indoor settings, social distancing, and staying home if you are sick.
The stay-at-home rule particularly applies to schools and out-of-school activities.
“Stay at home if you are quarantined, not just stay away from school,” Morrow said.
Household transmission continues to be the primary way COVID is being spread in the health districts.
Health officials continue to receive reports of parents keeping their children home from school but allowing them to go to social activities and sporting events.
“When there’s this much disease, we may see some transmission in schools, but it does not appear that that’s the major source,” she said. “I think that speaks to the power of having physical distancing and masking in place. We know that in school, where these layered mitigation strategies are in place, we’re better able to protect people. But once they go outside of school and they’re not necessarily following those mitigation strategies, they’re at greater risk.”
Health officials in the Roanoke-Alleghany region are waiting for a recommendation from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee on Friday regarding COVID-19 booster shots.
If the FDC, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health sign off on the boosters, regional health officials will be ready to implement a plan for distribution.
Booster shots, which are for individuals who were already successfully vaccinated, are intended to help increase immunity, but they are not yet approved or available except for people who are immunocompromised.
And Morrow said her staff is ready to implement the distribution of COVID booster shots if they win approval from regulators.
“It is important to note that there is no urgency for fully-vaccinated people to get their booster — fully vaccinated people still have a high level of protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death associated with COVID-19 infection,” she said.
Since the pandemic started in March 2020, 534 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts.
On Tuesday, 70 people in the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts were hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, representing an increase of four from last week.
