Gamble: Interstate Travel Likely To Be Causing Rise In COVID-19 Cases In Ohio County | News, Sports, Jobs

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WHEELING – Over the past week, Ohio County’s two measurements on the state’s COVID-19 map have nearly quintupled, indicating the rapid spread of the virus among the county’s unvaccinated population.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources map, Ohio County reported an infection rate of 2.76 and 1.3 percent positivity last Thursday. On Thursday, the previous day’s figures were respectively 13.11 and 5.75. The active cases reported by the county had also nearly doubled, from 23 to 45.

Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble said when speaking to people reporting new infections, most of them were related to traveling out of state and , in some cases, to cross several states. Others were family or shared homes with those who had traveled.

“We see a lot of travel, and when they come back, these people have been to several places outside of the Ohio Valley, and they are becoming positive,” Gamble said.

Gamble said even though Ohio County was fairly well vaccinated – around 62% – there was still a significant opportunity for the virus to spread and travel. He added that although the North Panhandle has yet to see the most contagious delta variant of the disease – the closest reported cases are four people infected in Wetzel County – this poses a risk for the future. .

“We can still get it, fully vaccinated. We come back, we have mild symptoms, but we don’t get tested, and we go somewhere and pass it on to unvaccinated people, ”he said. “If all of this is the delta variant, it’s a little more contagious than the COVID virus, it can spread more easily, people get sick faster.

“The increase may be the result (of) we are only 62% of eligible people vaccinated. When you introduce this virus to this population, it will find the next host. He has found someone, and when they come back, he will find the next person very quickly. When you still have 40% unvaccinated people, it will find the next person, and that next person will be, for the most part, unvaccinated. “

Gamble said that since Sunday there have only been two groundbreaking cases of COVID among those vaccinated. Gamble pointed out that being vaccinated only affects the body’s response to contact with the virus, and that a person who is repeatedly exposed can contract COVID, but usually with milder symptoms.

“One is a mother and she lives in a household with several other HIV positive children,” he said. “Even if we are vaccinated and we are around a virus, we are still going to catch the virus. The way our body reacts is the way the vaccine works in the body. If the vaccine we took gives a good response, we won’t have many symptoms.

“… Some (people who have been vaccinated) get tested because they just want to see, because their household is sick and there are no symptoms. Others have mild symptoms – you can tell they have a snotty, snotty nose. The symptoms are very mild and they go away quickly. On the other hand, many of our unvaccinated are very sick, ”he added.

Gamble said there are reports and anecdotal evidence that hospitals are seeing an increase in the number of COVID patients, something that is increasingly common across the country.

“We have anecdotal (reports) that people are hospitalized, but we have reports that the hospital seems to be busier now, with positive people.”

Gamble said the health department is resuming regular COVID testing in response to the further increase in cases. The tests will be offered from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the old main entrance of the OVMC.

“We have the ability to slow it down, manage the cases, and before that rise, we manage. Whether it’s one case every two to three days or more, but when you throw five or six (per day) we go back to the old style, when we just roll out the vaccines and we debates between case management and vaccination.

“Then we vaccinated and we reduced the number, but you introduce the virus again and you have the unvaccinated, it’s going to spread to everyone, whether they’re vaccinated or not, there will be a risk. I just wish we could make it so that we can handle this, rather than having to go into this big response that we have to do. “

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