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A visit by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Mesa County in late June has yet to provide answers on why so many people in nursing homes have recently contracted COVID-19, but it may -being contributed to the confusion about federal agents going door-to-door. – door with vaccines.
The CDC and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment both sent teams to help Mesa County Public Health investigate what appeared to be a higher-than-average rate of ‘breakthrough’ cases. and hospitalizations among vaccinated people, especially those living in long-term care facilities.
Mesa County public health spokeswoman Amanda Mayle said the visit lasted for a few days and teams are still analyzing the data to determine what happened.
The delta variant, which is the dominant strain in Colorado and particularly prevalent in the western part of the state, is slightly more likely to cause asymptomatic infections or mild symptoms in people vaccinated, compared to the previously dominant version.
UK data shows vaccines still reduce the risk of being hospitalized with the delta variant by more than 90%, and the vast majority of current hospitalizations and deaths in the US involve unvaccinated people, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday during a press call at the White House.
It’s possible that Mesa County’s hospitalization figures were nothing more than a statistical fluke, but the state and CDC have not set a timeline for releasing findings.
In the meantime, the confusion has spread almost as much as the virus itself, with some – including United States Representative Lauren Boebert – spreading rumors that federal officials were door-to-door in County of Mesa and other hot spots. White House statements on Federal Response Teams blurred the issue by failing to differentiate between dispatching CDC-led teams and providing resources for local door-to-door campaigns in communities with low vaccination rates.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki then tried to dispel the confusion, saying no federal employees were involved in the door-to-door efforts, which are led by local clergy or d ‘other non-profit organizations.
“These are the people who are the trusted messengers across the country. And we think we need to empower these people to continue working in communities to make sure people know that these vaccines are safe, that they can save lives, ”she said during the interview. ‘a press briefing on Thursday.
Mesa County public health officials said no one was campaigning door-to-door there and the only federal implication was sending the CDC team two weeks ago.
Boebert, a Republican whose district includes Mesa County, tweeted a comparison between the door-to-door campaign and Nazi Germany, and a public meeting on the issue became controversial, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. The Anti-Defamation League condemned Boebert’s tweet.
Mesa County remains a relative hotspot, with about one in seven active COVID-19 outbreaks in Colorado on Wednesday. However, there were not the most cases compared to population, with counties of Hinsdale, Rio Blanco, Moffat, Archuleta and Las Animas posting higher averages on Thursday.
While counties with a high number of cases have vaccination rates below the state average, some are not significantly behind schedule. Across Colorado, about 61% of eligible people are fully immunized, according to the CDC. In Rio Blanco County, less than a third of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, but about 57% of eligible people in Hinsdale County are.
Colorado has averaged about six cases per day per 100,000 people over the past week, which is slightly higher than the national rate, according to the New York Times data tracker. There are significant variations within the state, however: Hinsdale County had a rate equivalent to 366 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday; Denver had about 20 cases for the same population; and nine counties had not reported any cases last week.
Nationally, the seven-day average of new cases is up about 11% from the previous week, CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said. Hospitalizations have also increased by about 7%. Most of the spread is in areas with low vaccination rates and during events where people are not taking precautions, she said.
“On the one hand, we have seen the successes of our vaccination program over the past eight months, with cases, hospitalizations and deaths well below the peaks seen in January,” she said on Thursday during ‘a call to the press. “And yet, on the other hand, we are starting to see some new and worrying trends.”
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