More and more people die every day from the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, including a fifth death in Floyd County and more than 200,000 cases in the United States.
The death in Floyd reported by the Virginia Department of Health in Wednesday morning’s report is the second straight daily increase in our rural county and the third in recent reports.
Virginia’s death rate increased by 96 on Tuesday and another 45 Wednesday, bringing the Old Dominion’s fatalities to 2,884.
World Meter, which tracks the pandemic for the World Health Organization, among other data collection operations, put the United States death total at 200,280 at 10 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
Among localities in our area, Carroll County has 21 deaths, Galax 30 and Patrick County 23.
Floyd County now has 189 infections from the virus, 169 coming in the last two months. At least 10 people have been hospitalized from the the pandemic.
“The most concerning thing about Southwest, and I’ll repeat this, is we just don’t have the hospitals and especially the ICU capabilities,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a press conference Tuesday.
Six months ago today was the first confirmed area case of COVID-19, a woman in Botetourt County, who was also the first fatality, The Roanoke Times reports.
“Every one of the outbreaks comes down to human behavior, and some pause or breach in infection prevention,” Dr. Molly O’Dell, who handles pandemic response for the Allegheny and Roanoke city health districts, told the Times.
“Well, today, I popped in to get my car inspected, and when I walked in, the person who greeted me to take my keys didn’t have a mask on,” O’Dell said. “I asked him was he aware he was supposed to, and he said, ‘No. I didn’t know it was required.’ Do these people not read the newspaper or listen to the radio or watch TV? I don’t know. I’m dumbfounded,”
Gov.Northam agrees.
“We are doing all the right things with PPE, with testing, with tracing. But it’s the behavior that’s the challenge, and that’s up to Virginians,” he said in his press conference Tuesday. “It’s that behavior that will put this pandemic behind us. Not testing, not tracing, not PPE, but behavior, and that’s what we need to continue to emphasize.”
1 thought on “As the virus kills, too many still ignore the safety rules”
Since the Blue Ridge Muse is so “dumbfounded” over Mask Wearing then maybe he can put things in perspective by reporting on the following issues and how people can save themselves from the following:
— One person dies every 36 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease. About 655,000 Americans die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts. Shouldn’t this be considered a pandemic also and is the answer to shut down all food businesses that sell food that contribute to heart disease as well as clear grocery store shelves of all foods that contribute to heart disease and stop selling cigarettes, etc?
— In 2020, an estimated 606,520 people will die of cancer in the United States. Shouldn’t this be considered a pandemic and Is the answer to stop selling cigarettes and foods, etc. that can cause cancer and shut down plants and manufacturers that are polluting our air with chemicals that cause cancer? //seer.cancer.gov/statfacts.
— Accidents (unintentional injuries) Number of deaths per year: 161,374. The three leading causes of accident-related death are: unintentional falls, motor vehicle traffic deaths and unintentional poisoning deaths. https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death Shouldn’t these things be considered a pandemic and everyone stop driving, climbing ladders and stairs, etc. and stop selling any kind of chemicals that can lead to death including medicine?
If we are going to get on our Soap Box and Point Fingers at Certain Behaviors, should we not be inclusive of all things that are leading causes of death and not just focus on the newest thing that has come along to whip everyone into mask wearing hysterics.
Covid like all other pandemics and epidemics and plagues will go away but there will still be massive amounts of people dying from heart disease, cancer, car accidents, etc, every year and those numbers will most likely continue to rise every year, so, why are none of these considered a pandemic and a reason for people to take forceful action to prevent these causes of death?
If Northam would like to put in his two cents worth regarding these troublesome issues maybe he can have a news conference about it and while he is at it maybe he can figure out that allowing thousands of college students to come into our communities and bring hundreds of new Covid cases into our home towns is more dangerous than not wearing a mask.
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