The final week of July saw the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in Mobile County since the beginning of the pandemic and has officials encouraging vaccines, face-coverings and social distancing to limit the spread of the disease.
The largest number of cases in a single day from the week starting July 24 and ending July 31 was the 553 cases reported on July 27, according to information provided by the Mobile County Health Department.
“There were more cases reported last week than at any other week since the pandemic began,” MCHD Epidemiologist Dr. Rendi Murphree said. “Sixty percent of those cases are in people 18 to 49 years old. This is due to the low vaccination rates in that age group.”
The record number of cases has resulted in 277 hospitalizations, which is the most since Jan. 4, Murphree said.
“Illness that results in E.R. visits is up to 10 percent,” she said. “That has doubled each week for the last couple weeks. The overwhelming majority of cases and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated.”
Despite the high number of cases, Murphree said, recent deaths due to COVID-19 remain low. The MCHD dashboard shows 23 deaths in July and only eight in June.
“So far we’re seeing a low number of deaths and that is attributed to the effectiveness of the vaccine,” she said. “Seventy percent of those older, or those with underlying health conditions have been vaccinated.”
Of those getting tested for COVID-19 locally, Murphree said, 32 percent of the tests have come back positive, which is the highest rate of test positivity ever.
“During the previous two spikes, the percent positive didn’t get above 20 percent,” she said.
MCHD and other groups test about 7,000 residents each week. Murphree said many who come to get tested are declining a vaccine at the same time.
“People, if you’re concerned enough to get tested, get a vaccine,” she said.
As for any possible mask mandates or any other actions from MCHD, Murphree said it’s unnecessary because a vaccine now exists.
“We need people to get vaccinated,” she said. “Wear a mask indoors. Consider layering the protections. Don’t go to crowded places. Let’s do what we can do, not being forced, not being mandated, but because it’s the right thing to do.”
Mayor Sandy Stimpson “strongly encourages” residents to get vaccinated, follow CDC guidelines and wear masks indoors as numbers rise. In a statement, Stimpson said he was changing the city’s COVID-19 policies.
Stimpson is restricting all non-essential employee travel and encouraging remote meetings when possible, according to the statement.
Schools
Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler has mandated masks for most students as well as all teachers and visitors to start school.
“I have made the decision we are going to start back to school with masks being mandatory for all employees, visitors and students, second grade and higher, while in our buildings or on our buses through Sept. 10,” Tyler said in a statement. “I don’t think I need to go back through the details of how this will work. I believe everyone remembers well from last year. Your principals will have more to say in the coming week as they welcome you back to school.”
Mobile County Superintendent Chresal Threadgill will not mandate masks yet, but he is encouraging students and teachers to wear them in an email to parents sent out Monday, Aug. 2.
“To assist with mitigating the virus, we are strongly recommending that students and employees wear face masks,” he wrote in the email. “However, there is still a possibility that if the confirmed cases continue to rise, we will require face masks to be worn. In addition, if your child is sick or has come in direct contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19, please keep them home.”
The Archdiocese of Mobile is not recommending masks be worn by unvaccinated students, but schools will not require proof of vaccination or monitor the wearing of masks, Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi wrote in a letter on the organization’s website.
Vaccine
Mobile County has had a total of 274,023 vaccine doses administered, according to the MCHD dashboard. More than 153,000 people have received at least one dose, while 126,600 people are fully vaccinated. This accounts for a countywide vaccination rate of 31 percent. The state as a whole has a vaccination rate of 32 percent.
County and state health officials are aiming for a 70-percent herd immunity. While herd immunity includes not only those vaccinated, but those who’ve been previously infected, Murphree said those with natural immunity are safe from re-infection for about 90 days and it’s not as effective as the vaccine.
Some of the vaccine hesitancy present in the area and nationwide comes from reports linking the vaccine to rare adverse side effects. One of the most recent of these reports is a “rumor” inaccurately linking the COVID-19 vaccine to infertility, Dr. Mimi Munn, University of South Alabama College of Medicine professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology said.
Munn, who is also a practicing OBGYN at USA Health, called the infertility claim an “internet rumor” based on the assumptions of a former Pfizer researcher concerned about the spike protein created by the MRNA vaccine used to protect the body from COVID-19.
The thought is that the protein created by the vaccine resembles a protein found in placenta and the body’s immune system would then prevent a pregnancy. However, Munn said, there is no evidence that this is the case.
“There is no increased risk of miscarriage,” she said.
Researchers note that 100,000 pregnant woman have received the vaccine and there is no evidence in those women to suggest an increased risk of miscarriage. Researchers have studied 35 to 40 women who have become pregnant since receiving the vaccine and those studies have found no increased risk of miscarriage, Munn said.
Researchers have also tested for infertility in those subjects with antibodies, either produced by the vaccine, or produced naturally and found no increased infertility risk, Munn said. How the antibodies make the body react is important, Munn said, because the protein created by the vaccine to mimic the virus goes away quickly.
“The MRNA quickly degrades,” she said.”The only thing left is the antibodies.”
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