With COVID-19 cases climbing towards the three-digit mark – after having been in the single digits just a month ago – Sullivan County Public Health Services is urging people to take proper precautions, including getting vaccinated.
“In just a week’s time, our active cases have tripled, from 24 on July 26 to 72 on August 2,” noted Public Health Director Nancy McGraw. “This indicates transmission is becoming widespread again.”
Over the past weekend, four people were hospitalized with coronavirus, with one serious enough to be admitted to an intensive care unit. While no new deaths have been recorded for some time, over 100 people are currently in quarantine.
“With the much more contagious Delta variant widespread nationally, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) placing us in its ‘substantial’ transmission zone, I’m once again strongly encouraging everyone – vaccinated or unvaccinated – to wear masks indoors in situations where you cannot be at least six feet away from another person, and even outdoors when social distance cannot be maintained and you are in a large group for extended periods of time,” McGraw stated.
For children ages 12-17 returning to school in just 5 weeks, now is the time to get them vaccinated in order to have full protective immunity before school starts. Public Health offers Pfizer doses (ages 12 and older) every Wednesday from 2-6 p.m. at its offices at 50 Community Lane in Liberty. More information on walk in or appointment registration, sullivanny.us.