Health and Medicine
Mark Herring – Ian Price photo
Attorney General Mark Herring was in Roanoke this morning at the Bradley Free Clinic, taking part in a roundtable discussion on the opioid epidemic. Herring, who faces off against Republican challenger Jason Miyares in the November election, said in addition to prosecuting the illegal dealers he has been going after Big Pharma – companies that produce and then recklessly market legal opioids. The Bradley Free Clinic’s “Hope Initiative” is a walk-in program to treat those dealing with opioid abuse issues.
Dr Cynthia Morrow-Lt Michael Collens- GM photo
With a recent uptick nationally and locally in the number of people seeking the COVID vaccine, the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health districts will hold a mass vaccination clinic on Monday from 10am until 2pm at the Berglund Center – the first one in months. Dr. Cynthia Morrow is the health district director; she says the local VDH vaccination numbers have also gone up recently.
See links below to register for Monday’s clinic at the Berglund Center
Pfizer
Moderna
J&J
The director of a regional health district says there is a potentially welcome trend in new COVID-19 cases; they are already leveling off in some places and could start generally declining in September. Doctor Noelle Bissell leads the state health department’s New River District, and she says this latest major wave may come and go more quickly than the winter surge because the Delta variant is working its way through the population so quickly. But COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths could still increase a while longer since they are trailing indicators. Bissell says vaccinations remain essential to limit the COVID’s most serious effects, whether you have already contracted the virus or not. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
The Virginia Department of Health is now breaking down its daily count of COVID-19 cases by vaccination status. The goal is to show how many infections, hospitalizations, and deaths occur among those who are fully, partially or not vaccinated. The department reports from mid-January through mid-August, well under .3% of the 4,700,000 fully vaccinated Virginians have later tested positive for the virus.
NEWS RELEASE: (Richmond, Va) – The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) updated its COVID-19 Cases by Vaccination Status dashboard on Monday, August 23, 2021, to more accurately represent the impact of vaccinations on infection rates in the Commonwealth.
The primary change will be reporting rates of infection, hospitalizations, and deaths by vaccination status — fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated. The new dashboard will allow comparison of the rate of persons with COVID-19 who are fully, partially, and not vaccinated. Counts of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths of people who are fully vaccinated, called vaccine breakthrough, will also be available at the state and health region levels.
Between January 17 and August 14, 2021, 252,938 people developed COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive. Almost all of these were among unvaccinated people; only 10,712 infections have been reported during the same time among the 4.7 million Virginians who have been fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate 12.5 times higher than fully vaccinated people.
VDH will be reporting an increase in vaccine breakthrough infections, hospitalizations, and deaths this week because of an improvement in data processing. This improvement now allows for COVID-19 cases from the Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System (VEDSS, where COVID-19 cases including hospitalizations and deaths are collected) to be automatically matched with immunization records in the Virginia Immunization Information System (VIIS, where all COVID-19 vaccinations are recorded). Previously, VDH staff were performing the match by hand to determine vaccination status, which took additional time. Please note, all COVID-19 data are preliminary and subject to change and will be updated as quality assurance activities are completed.
For more information, see three new posts VDH published on its Data Insights blog describing COVID-19 attacks rates and trends by age groups, vaccine breakthrough infections, and vaccine effectiveness in more detail.
For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia, visit the VDH Coronavirus website. Anyone age 12 or older can find free vaccination clinics near them by visiting Vaccinate.Virginia.gov or by calling 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682, TTY users may call 7-1-1).
Virginia First Lady Pam Northam says she and her husband both face continuing impacts from COVID-19. She and Governor Ralph Northam were both diagnosed with COVID-19 last September — before vaccines were generally available. The governor said initially, he had no symptoms, but that changed within a week, and Pam Northam tells us they both still face residual effects:
Pam Northam spoke live on the Roanoke Valley’s Morning News. She says despite those challenges, she and her husband are quite aware many others have fared much worse, and she hopes anyone not yet vaccinated will choose to do so.
Mrs. Northam joined us on air to promote awareness of the Child Care Subsidy Program which provides short-term assistance for parents of pre-school children who are looking for employment. Here is the full conversation:
The health care systems based in Roanoke, Lynchburg and Southside Virginia collectively report a nearly 50 per cent increase in COVID-19 patients under intensive care in the last week — 74 today compared to 50 last Friday. Overall COVID hospitalization numbers rose just slightly in the last seven days from 178 to 182; the compares to the peak of 450 in mid-January.
TODAY: Here are the updated numbers for the Near Southwest Region (which includes Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, Sovah Health, and Salem VA facilities) as of today:
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients: 182
ICU patients: 74
Hospitalized PUIs (patients under investigation awaiting results): 12
AUGUST 13: Here are the updated numbers for the Near Southwest Region (which includes Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, Sovah Health, and Salem VA facilities) as of today:
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients: 178
ICU patients: 50
Hospitalized PUIs (patients under investigation awaiting results): 13
AUGUST 6: Here are updated numbers for the Near Southwest Region (which includes Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, Sovah Health, and Salem VA facilities) as of today:
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients: 113
ICU patients: 28
Hospitalized PUIs (patients under investigation awaiting results): 15
JANUARY 13: Here are updated numbers for the Near Southwest Region (which includes Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, Sovah, and Salem VA facilities) as of today:
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients: 450
ICU patients: 96
Ventilator patients: 55
Hospitalized PUIs (patients under investigation awaiting results): 30
Prescription and over-the-counter medications can be a gateway to illegal drugs for some young people. Education for adults, youth and families on the dangers of misuse is the mission for RAYSAC. Their annual Legislative Roundtable takes place tomorrow morning. The story from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
Dr. Cynthia Morrow/VDH-VT photo
Reports are now surfacing that the Biden Administration may soon recommend a COVID booster shot – a third dose – with that program getting underway as soon as next month. The rollout could also include those mass vaccinations clinics again. During her weekly teleconference today Roanoke City and Alleghany Health District director Dr. Cynthia Morrow says this region will be ready. The recommendation is to stay with the vaccine administered previously – either Pfizer or Moderna – but mix-and-match is okay said Morrow. No booster shot for the J+J vaccine has been approved yet. The immuno-compromised could be first in line.
Photo: Virginia Tech
As some still refuse to take the vaccine or wear masks to safeguard themselves and others against COVID-19, a sense of fatigue has set in among many health care workers. A local Virginia Department of Health Care official spoke about that yesterday. WFIR’s Gene Marrano has that story: