COVID-19 IS AGAIN SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE IN CUMBERLAND CO, WHY?

The rise in COVID cases in Cumberland County is mind-boggling – considering on July 5th there was only ONE active case reported by the State for Cumberland County. On Friday the 13th of August – there are 416 active cases in Cumberland County. The county had reached a high of 600 plus cases back in January which was credited to the previous holiday period when families and groups of people were getting together to celebrate the holidays. Some ‘experts’ are blaming the new COVID Delta Variant on the recent surge. The Delta Variant is said to be much more contagious and spread faster. Cumberland county is showing an average of 30 new cases per day compared to 6 per day in Putnam County, a much larger county. If the cases continue to jump as they have been – no doubt the great ‘mask mandate’ discussion will once again fire up – particularly for schools. Here is an update from Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville:

COVID-19 status statement, 8/13/21:

Our Adult Hospital and Emergency Department are completely full. Due to constraints on all levels of bed capacity, we are limiting elective cases and declining transfer requests from many hospitals.

The Middle Tennessee Transfer Coordinating Center is up and running to try to balance the load around the city. Those transfers are being placed in hospitals despite capacity and staffing challenges. This is a significant stressor to our health care staff and providers.

Patients we are treating for COVID-19 are all ages, with some in their early to mid-20s being very sick. We continue to see that the majority, more than 90%, of those admitted for COVID-19 are unvaccinated and those who are vaccinated are also severely immunocompromised. We urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated ASAP, and masks do help limit the transmission of COVID-19.

To date, 39 percent of Cumberland Countians have been fully vaccinated.