St. Mary's Co. Local Public Health Advisory: Recent Rise in COVID-19 Cases

newsBot · Jul 27, 2021

LEONARDTOWN, MD (July 27, 2021) – Ongoing surveillance of local COVID-19 data by the St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) has shown a recent increase in several key indicators, including:

Total cases of COVID-19 in St. Mary’s County residents: 7,536 (+85 in past 7 days)
Number of Breakthrough Cases: 63 (+19 in the past 7 days, 43% increase)
Identified Variants of Concern in St. Mary’s County:
- B.1.1.7 (Alpha): 58
- P.1 (Gamma): 5
- B.1.617.2 (Delta): 3
New Case Rate per 100,000: 10.56 (+4.22 in past 7 days, 67% increase)
Percentage Confirmed Positive (PCR) Cases: 9.35 (+5.55 in past 7 days, 146% increase)

SMCHD strongly urges all community members who are not yet fully vaccinated to wear masks in indoor group settings and to get vaccinated if they are age eligible. COVID-19 vaccinations are provided to anyone age 12 and older at the SMCHD main office in Leonardtown. Appointments are highly recommended; walk-ups will be accepted as vaccine supply allows. For more information or to make a COVID-19 vaccination appointment, please visit smchd.org/covid-19-vaccine or call (301) 475-4330.

Additionally, SMCHD recommends that all community members, even those who are vaccinated, continue to take actions to protect themselves and prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:

Wearing a well fitted mask indoors among people who do not live with you
Avoiding large crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces
Washing your hands often with soap and water or hand sanitizer
Avoiding close contact with people who are sick, or others if you are sick

“The recent sharp rise in new COVID-19 cases, including breakthrough cases in those fully vaccinated, is a very troubling sign of increasing community spread,” said Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary’s County Health Officer. “The vast majority of new illnesses and hospitalizations are happening in unvaccinated people. While not 100%, we know vaccines are incredibly effective, including against COVID-19 variants. If you’re not yet vaccinated, please get vaccinated and wear a mask when indoors with people outside your household. If you’re fully vaccinated, consider wearing masks indoors in public settings to decrease your risk of breakthrough COVID-19 infection as the rates of COVID-19 are quickly increasing in our community.”

Community members showing any sign or symptom of COVID-19 should get tested within 24-48 hours, regardless of vaccination status or prior infection. Asymptomatic persons exposed to COVID-19 who are not yet fully vaccinated are also encouraged to get tested. For more information on testing locations and hours, including rapid PCR testing, please visit smchd.org/covid-19-testing.

Local updates and information on COVID-19 prevention, symptoms, and more are available at smchd.org/coronavirus. Community members may view the most up-to-date local COVID-19 data at smchd.org/covid-19-data.

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The post Local Public Health Advisory: Recent Rise in COVID-19 Cases appeared first on St. Mary's County Health Department.

stgislander · Jul 27, 2021

How many are hospitalized?

TPD · Jul 27, 2021

There is a lot to digest in this press release.

85 new 'rona cases in the last week, but only 3 total cases of the D variant since they've been tracking variants. Wait - haven't we been told that the D variant is 80%+ of new cases in the US yet we only have 3 total here in St. Mary's?

19 of the 85 new 'rona cases in the last week were from vaccinated people - that is 23%. Haven't we been told that the vaccines are 90%+ effective yet 23% (25% last week) of new cases are from vaxed residents? Maybe someone who knows statistics better than me can run the numbers. Looks like almost 50% of SMC residents are jabbed with a 90-95% effectiveness but 23-25% new cases. Do those numbers work?

New Case Rate per 100k is now 10.56. During the last week of July 2020 the new case rate was also increasing (according to SMCHD data) and we were over 11 cases per 100k but I don't remember a panic being hurled upon us last July. We were all having fun and doing our thing AND we were mostly wearing masks and no one was vaccinated. Of course there was one little business in Ridge being harassed on a weekly basis for not wearing masks.

I have never put any faith in the percentage confirmed positive cases because that number can be severely skewed. If only symptomatic people are getting tested then the percent increases. If people are getting tested just because (work, travel, hold-ma-beer moments, etc) then the number is lower. So IMO that number should not even be tracked. Tell me if I'm wrong about this.

Not reported in this press release but can be found on SMCHD website is the RT (Estimated Effective Reproduction Number). I heard the nice doctor tell us many times in the last 9 months via county commissioner meetings that this RT is a number to watch. When it gets over 1 then the spread is outa control. Well low and behold when I check their website, they are no longer calculating this number. As of this moment, the last calculation for RT was on June 9th 2021 with a number of .48. Yet in the press release we should be immediately concerned about spread.

And lastly, again not reported in this press release but found on their website, we were told in the beginning we had to control the spread in order NOT to overwhelm the healthcare system. As of today, the last reporting on the health department website for hospitalizations was July 8th 2021 with 3 people hospitalized. So does that mean since July 8th no one has been hospitalized with the sweet-n-sour sickness? Based on the press release above this thing is really getting out of hand but based on the SMCHD own website, I have no reason to be concerned.

WHICH IS IT?????