Health chief: Get a vaccine
Albany County issues plea as COVID cases plateau locally, but rise elsewhere
Albany County’s health commissioner made a direct appeal Friday to individuals who are still undecided about getting vaccinated, arguing vaccines are the quickest path to normalcy and critical as cases of coronavirus have begun to plateau and even rise in other parts of the state, nation and globe.
Dr. Elizabeth Whalen addressed the rise in cases being seen elsewhere — which scientists believe are being fueled by highly contagious variants and relaxed precautions — while also acknowledging the overall decrease the county has seen in cases since mid-january.
“It is reassuring that our numbers of cases are decreasing, but they’re not low enough for us to take a pass yet,” she said. “They’re not low enough for people to say, ‘Well, the numbers are going down, maybe I don’t have to be vaccinated.’ ”
The Capital Region, like much of the
rest of the country, saw a sharp drop in cases, hospitalizations and deaths since all three peaked at high levels in January. But over the last month those declines have slowed, and cases have been in a plateau now for weeks.
The eight-county region has averaged around 200 confirmed cases of the virus a day since midfebruary, a Times Union analysis of county data show. The region’s sevenday positivity rate has also been stuck at or near 2 percent since mid-february. While hospitalizations have generally been in decline since mid-january, they also began to plateau this month. Capital Region hospitals have been averaging a daily census of around 100 coronavirus patients since March 9.
“We’re seeing in other countries a third wave,” Whalen said Friday. “The term ‘third wave’ is not something that we want to think about, but it is definitely a possibility and as we see these highly communicable strains emerging and we see spread in different parts of the country and in other countries, this is a major concern for us.”
In the Northeast, officials are concerned that a variant discovered in New York City may be slowing the rate at which positivity rates are dropping as cases have plateaued at high levels in some places. Meanwhile, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned this week that the U.S. should take a lesson from Europe, where a new wave of cases is being seen in some countries, and avoid lifting public health restrictions too soon.
Whalen said there are two main ways to avoid a third wave of infections.
The first is all the public health precautions people have been advised to take since the beginning: wear a mask while out in public, maintain social distance, wash hands frequently, and avoid large gatherings. The second is to get vaccinated.
“There are many people that are currently trying to get vaccines,” she said. “There are some people that are committed never to get vaccines. But there are a lot of you that are in between and those are the people that I would like to speak to about the importance of having confidence in this vaccine.”
The coronavirus vaccines that have been approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were shown to be both safe and effective during clinical trials, she noted. Contrary to disinformation being found online, the vaccines do not alter a person’s DNA and they do not give you COVID -19, she said.
Whalen said she herself got vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.
“I want to really encourage people that when your time comes to be vaccinated please sign up and be vaccinated, it is the best way to move forward ... I would not vaccinate or encourage family members to be vaccinated unless I believed this was safe, unless I had reviewed the scientific evidence,” she said. “And I will say without reservation that I do recommend vaccination.”
She noted that side effects may occur after vaccination, but added that this is a normal response that indicates the body’s immune system is ramping up to learn how to fight COVID -19.
She also advised people to be careful about where they are getting their vaccine information and recommended they seek out credible information from the county website (albanycounty.com), state Health Department website (coronavirus.health.ny.gov), or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (cdc.gov/coronavirus).
“Facebook is not a trusted source of vaccine information. … When we talk about evidence, when I talk about giving information to the public that is evidence-based, it’s important to know that evidence does not equal anecdote … that means that evidence takes the experience of a large, statistically significant group of people and tells you what risk is," she said. "Anecdote, in contrast, is a story from someone who gave you their personal experience. There’s a big difference."
Local counties are making progress with their vaccination efforts. As of Friday, just over 29 percent of people living in the eight-county Capital Region had received at least one dose of vaccine and nearly 15 percent had been fully vaccinated, state data show. Experts have said at least 70 percent of the population must be immune in order to reach herd immunity.
Whalen and other local officials are also reminding people that full protection from the vaccines does not occur until two weeks after the last dose.
“We do see people get that first dose of vaccine and think they can go out and not wear masks and act normally and socialize, and then we see them come down with COVID,” Whalen said. “That’s not at all uncommon, unfortunately. So know that it takes your body time to build these antibodies.”
While the vaccines are highly effective at preventing moderate to severe illness caused by the virus, it is possible for vaccinated people to still carry the virus and spread it to others, which is why officials have urged vaccinated people to wear masks and distance while around others who may not be vaccinated.
Warren County on Thursday said it had documented two cases of coronavirus this week among people who had been fully vaccinated in January. Both have mild illness and are the first cases the county has seen among vaccinated residents. An additional six cases have been reported in the county in recent weeks among people who have only had one dose.
“Vaccines have not been touted as 100 percent effective, but dramatically lessen the chance of becoming ill and serious illness among those who do contract COVID,” the county said in a statement. “Warren County Health Services urges that those who have been vaccinated continue to follow COVID -related precautions until community spread slows.”