According to numbers posted Monday by the Virginia Department of Health, Floyd County’s total number of COVID-19 cases are 941, an increase of 22 since the Friday’s report. That makes the county’s new cases more than 50 in about a week, a rate more than 10 times the usual weekly numbers.
Friday’s report showed 6 new cases in the county from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday and Monday’s report includes new cases reported on Friday, Saturday and though 5 p.m. Sunday,
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over. It’s growing by astronomical numbers. Virginia had 4,655 new cases over the weekend. The Roanoke Valley reported 126. Montgomery County and the city of Radford are up by 58, Franklin County 53, Carroll County 25 and 22 in Pulaski County.
Some blame the increase in Floyd on the low rate of vaccinations. Spurred by self-righteous right-wing conspiracy hoaxes, more than half the county has shunned the needed vaccines needed to fight the pandemic. Others claim many countians who attended FloydFest brought the dreaded delta variant to the county. Perhaps, but medical evidence says delta was already here. It could be passed on to unvaccinated customers at Food Lion, Slaughters or other retail shops. It could come from the person sitting at the bar next to you at Dogtown.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is urging quick, full approval to before the end of this month, which he hopes will spur vaccine mandates in the private sector as well as schools and universities
Dr. Fauci says localities should mandate vaccinations if the nation has any change to halt the spread of COVID-19.
“I hope — I don’t predict — I hope that it will be within the next few weeks. I hope it’s within the month of August,” Fauci said in media statements to urge FDA approval of the vaccine. “If that’s the case, you’re going to see the empowerment of local enterprises, giving mandates that could be colleges, universities, places of business, a whole variety and I strongly support that. The time has come. … We’ve got to go the extra step to get people vaccinated.”
However, the U.S. Supreme Court, packed with right-wing justices by former, dishonored president Donald Trump, is looking at a request to block mandated vaccines at Indiana University for both student and employees.
That doesn’t sit well with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teacher. “As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers — not opposing them on vaccine mandates,” Weingarten said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
On ABC’s “This Week,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said:
I celebrate when I see businesses deciding that they’re going to mandate that for their employees. Yes, I think we ought to use every public health tool we can when people are dying.
2 thoughts on “COVID-19 is increasing at record levels”
I appreciate your accuracy and diligence.
Back in the mask again. I had enjoyed 2 weeks of no mask in May, and I truly enjoyed seeing smiles and laughter from those around me. The risk is now too great to continue without that mask. I’ve had conversations with several folks I’ve met in public and a few conversations with family members. Most of the folks out in public agree that we must continue to be vigilant, proactive, and protective to quell the virus. Although we are burdened with the virus for the future, we can control it with vaccines and other protective measures, as we do with the yearly flu. The conversations I’ve had with family members have not been as open and informed. Two of these family members stated that they don’t trust what the vaccines are made of, and they don’t trust the government. Both of these two folks are addicts who have no relationship with truth, honesty or realism and can barely carry on an inane conversation on any given day, thus, I choose to ignore those thoughts and not argue Without the intervention of businesses, schools, retail and other service providers who could mandate a vaccination prior to gaining entrance to their establishments, those who have skewed, misinformed thoughts will continue to spread this disease. I have no answers to how things should be done, but I don’t now or have I ever believed that playing politics is the right way to go. Name calling, antagonism, hatred, and misinformation has fueled alot of fear in almost every part of our daily lives. Left-wing believes something that right-wing doesn’t and so on and on. It’s all become too much. This is a true public health crisis that has no barriers and will continue unless we all can come together with some sort of true “treat thy neighbor as thyself” mentality without which this will continue to be just another name-calling event in our history.
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