Jefferson County back in the yellow zone for COVID-19: What officials are recommending – WLKY Louisville

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seen nationally well evolved throughout the whole pandemic has gotten hit later. So just like how we saw cases increasing on the east coast *** couple of weeks ago we are seeing that same thing here now. So to bring up the dashboard so we are in the yellow medium risk and that is because the number of cases has increased. Um here in jefferson County. If we were doing the old um community levels. Uh we would be in the red for the number of cases we’re currently having but our hospitalization numbers are still low and so that’s why it’s in that yellow category with the new CDC um levels. So we had 1,771 cases uh reported last week which gives us an average incident rate of 33. Um And then with the C. D. C. One which is Per week is 215 13 deaths were reported last week to the health department. And you can see here on the graph that total total cases per week. You can see here nowhere near the omicron search but our cases are slowly starting to increase um here in May and then the deaths you can see here um The even though we report by the number of new deaths reported to us per week On the graph it shows you the date of death. And so um while 13 deaths were reported to us last week four we’re um just in last week but those numbers tend to be delayed 3-4 weeks. So we expect that to increase *** little bit as well too vaccination right? That’s the big message. Um That with the cases increasing and we really want to make sure that everyone is getting their vaccinated and then their booster and then their second booster if they’re eligible. And so anyone over the age of 65 and those over 50 with any sort of chronic medical condition qualify for that second booster. And so just encouraging if you have not gotten that yet now is the time to do that with the case counts increasing here in Jefferson County. Uh And just like the whole pandemic, the areas of town that they’re having higher rates of vaccination. You can see that in the grass hospitalized patients. Uh The data is *** little bit delayed here. So um probably the most accurate data is to look at the seventh when there is about 50 cases in the hospital. Um And we expect the numbers right now to be about the same as people catch up from over the weekend. So so those last couple of days are still not not accurate at the moment but still way those numbers, that’s why we’re in that yellow category and not the red is cause hospitalization still are low but that may increase in the next couple of weeks. And then the last thing um just want to highlight, we have added wastewater data to the dashboard. Um Just in case you haven’t seen that yet. Um That is at the bottom And so the level of Covid in the wastewater is about equal to the height of omicron. Um This is kind of what we’re seeing across the country as well to kind of plateau here this last week. Um so just really high levels and so anyone who doesn’t have any sort of immunity rather from prior infection or immunization just continue those same cautions. Uh The other big thing besides just making sure you get your booster um we are in *** totally different stage of the pandemic now where there are many medications and treatments that are available so people don’t need to get as sick as they used to. And so if you are in that higher risk category and if you have autoimmune issue any sort of Chronic disease or over the age of 65 um now’s the time to start planning ahead and talking to your physician or your primary care provider, just have *** plan in place in case you do test positive on *** home test or somewhere I think you’ve been exposed. So you can get those treatments really quickly um because they like to get them started in the first couple of days of having Covid. So just have that plan in place in case something does happen, make sure you are testing uh testing at home is still good. Um They’re free tests from the government. If you haven’t gotten them yet, you can order your second set, make sure you do that. Otherwise they are available over the counter um across the community and and other places as well too. But so if you test positive, contact your doctor and make sure you have treatment, if you’re in the high risk categories. Um and then if not just the same thing, stay home, I don’t want you to transmit it to other people. If you do use the home test, sometimes they don’t uh turned positive for *** couple of days. So as long as you have symptoms, please be staying home. Um no matter what it is, if it’s *** flu or just another virus still don’t want to transmitting that to others. So um if you feel sick, stay home. Uh and if you got to go out in the community um and you’re high risk and you’re around other people in close quarters, um wear *** mask, especially in those high risk categories. And I think there’s *** ton of questions, Kathy, I don’t know if you want to turn back, I’m happy to do that for you. I just had *** thought about something I thought you might want to re emphasize, but we’ll describe the questions. So Jamie is asking what is the weight people should be taking between booster shots. So it depends on which type of booster. Um if you um if you’re having one M. R. I. So the Moderna or the fighter, it’s four months from your first booster, if you’re over the age of 50 or if you’re older um The age of 12 and our moderately severe immune compromised um you can get your second booster four months after your first booster. Uh And then if you had the johnson and johnson or the Janssen vaccine um that is also four months afterwards for that booster. Okay and then april record is asking dr Moyer can you clarify wastewater is showing levels close to the peak of omicron? And this is mainly be *** two. That’s right it’s mostly ***. two and we’re still the trends are high but you’ve probably seen like the cases hospitalization numbers being low. Um And *** number of not increasing exponentially. I don’t think we’re in the same situation as we were in january. Uh Lots of us have immunity from getting in that back in january. So different tuition. But yes so science isn’t um they’re working with the just trying to kind of figure that out out there. There there there are differences in the wastewater water with two or more people in town right now with uh all the events from very many influences as well. And dr Moyer the um with Omar khan while it is really highly contagious it is true across the country that we’re seeing, it has less creates less severity of illness for people. Is that correct? Unless someone is immune compromised. Yeah so I mean that’s partially correct. So there’s less um severity because we have immunity already to it. So whether that is because you’ve got um omicron when the first surge went through with the ***. One or if that’s because you’ve been vaccinated and boosted um and gotten your second booster um It’s it’s milder, doesn’t mean you can’t get it but the case like it feels more like the flu instead of having to get hospitalized if you’ve never been exposed whether you’ve never been vaccinated, Never have had covid in the last two years, it’s just as severe as it was the first time around. So those are the people who are really trying to protect right now. Okay, bobby is asking are you expecting *** big post Derby surge and dr Moyer would you say that? It’s um *** lot of factors that go into spread right now there’s you know not mask wearing, there’s lots of activities happening. Um do you attribute you expect *** poster boy research or is this more of living with COVID-19 now? That’s tough questions. I think it’s *** combination of everything. Right? So I mean we’re seeing increases across the country so it’s not disturbing but people are more relaxed. Um We’ve got better treatments and other things happening and some numbers are going to go up. Hopefully those hospitalization numbers stay low and that’s really what we’re trying to prevent um in the stages of the pandemic. So expect um numbers increased but hopefully um with all the other tools we have the hospitalization won’t and so so yes there will be more people are traveling um going back to work getting together and so we’re seeing not just increases in covid but flu is also increasing. Rsv is increasing. Um All the other viruses are also increasing as we get back together um as expected. So lots of great things we learned from the pandemic in the last two years. So if you don’t like getting viruses like that make sure you’re washing your hands wearing *** mask. Um Staying away from others because those things we know work okay thank you. And I think that I think Dakota that we answered both yours and bobby questions just now but if not feel free to put something back into the chat and then bobby saying that the CDC map shows jefferson county still in the green. Is the map that the health department uses more accurate? Great question. So the CDC updates their map on Thursdays and we update ours on sunday. And so I do expect with the increased number of cases that we will likely be in the yellow on the C. D. C. Map in this thursday’s update. Um But we’ll see too if if the trend goes back down if we get less cases reported today and tomorrow we might be back in the green again so we’ll see what happens but we’re right on that border? Okay thank you and James asking with the rise in cases and gatherings during Derby. How important is it for people who were in large groups to get tested. So I think if you have symptoms, it’s really important to get tested. Um just to know and to stay home until you get that result back. Um and then either you have *** couple of days um to do *** second test if you’re doing the home antigen test, if the first one is negative or until your symptoms resolved. And then the other really important time to get tested is if you’re going to be around somebody who is immune compromised, if you’re going to go visit *** relative in *** nursing home or um you’re having people over that are over the age of 65 or or might have other reasons then I would test before you see them. So just to make sure you’re not getting them sick. Um also from bobby, you said masks are still *** good tool, but do you think people will go back to that protection method? I still see people wearing them now. I think it’s *** great tool. Um If you are in one of those categories that are high risk, I’m wearing it, even if you’re the only one in the room wearing it, it still provides *** lot of great protection I think for everyone else who gets cold and feels bad for *** couple of days? Um It’s risk benefit to them, whether they like to be out of work and out of activities um and feeling bad. Um versus wearing it. I think we all have kind of that risk benefit to take on what we decided to do going forward and regulations. The other really big one to um that I think we’ve started talking less about. So just knowing the environment you’re in, if you’re outside, it is windy and it’s great ventilation. Maybe you don’t need to keep that mask on, but if you’re in *** really tight crowded indoor space um and you don’t know the vaccination status or trust that people are, they’re symptom free or not, I would wear *** mask right now. I was gonna say the CDC has recently recommended that people are using public transportation. People traveling using public transportation wear masks, correct? Correct? That um that’s for everyone, so not just like right now in the yellow category, those that are high risk should be wearing masks, but um for uh in public transportation where ventilation maybe it’s not not so great um, in *** confined space, uh, definitely recommend mask wearing as well. And I think we also want to put *** plug that the loo health Covid helpline is still there and available. So if someone tests positive and I’m not sure what to do, they can call the helpline. Um If someone needs help finding *** testing or vaccination location attest to treat location they can help with that as well. So I just put that number back in there. All right. I don’t see any other questions, anybody else. Any other questions. I think that was just *** really great reminder. Um We still have one of the hours, might be more limited on the helpline. We still have teams in place that if you do test positive, we can help you get the supplies. You need to stay home and follow the public health advice. If you need *** place to isolate safely, you can’t do that in your own house. We can help you um with that as well. Um So please reach out to us. Uh We can help you find where to get tested. Where to get vaccinated on all those things are still available. So please reach out if you need to.