Officials Warn People To Be Cautious During Spring Break
Officials Warn People To Be Cautious During Spring Break
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Amanda Bridgman-
Officials Warn People To Be Cautious During Spring BreakCounty health officials are warning people that if they’re sick to stay home during spring break.
On Wednesday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced COVID-19 vaccines are now open to anyone 16 and older. Several local school districts are going on spring break next week, and that could be a problem, especially for colleges, health officials fear.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer hosted his biweekly coronavirus press conference Wednesday that included participation from County Health Officer Dr. William Remington, Kosciusko County Health Department Communicable Disease Nurse Teresa Reed, Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson and County Commissioner Cary Groninger.
Come Tuesday, the state’s mask mandate will drop down to only an advisory. Pairing that with spring break could mean more cases.
“College kids coming back from spring break probably will be a mixing bowl to some degree,” Remington said, adding that he doesn’t fear there will be a spike due to younger students returning after taking trips. “Kids don’t seem to be an incubator for this pathogen, and nobody trusted that because influenza is different, influenza is famous for being incubated in schools, but the coronavirus that we’ve had in the pandemic doesn’t seem to do that oddly.”
Testing at the Bowen Center’s site is also up after having dipped to its all-time low of roughly 20 people a day, Carlson said, wondering if it could be people who want to get tested before they travel.
“I would expect we’re going to see some part of a curve go up (after spring break), and I hope people will take that extra time that they’ll be responsible and make sure that they’re not sick,” Reed said. “Please don’t go to work sick, don’t send your kids to school sick.”
If you travel, should you take a COVID test when you get home and before you return to work and school? Reed and Remington are mixed about that. Anyone who has questions about that can contact Reed at the KCHD and she said she’ll talk someone through that decision.
Since March 26, 2020, when the first COVID case was reported in Kosciusko County, Remington said 112 people have died and nearly 100,000 tests have been administered.
The county’s color-coded advisory has also slipped from blue to yellow. The seven-day rolling positivity rate is now 4.3%, Remington said. Two weeks ago, the county’s positivity rate was 2%. There are 20 new cases reported the past seven days, up from seven new cases two weeks ago.
“There are some regional surges,” Remington said, noting the spike in cases in metro Detroit and Michigan. “Nobody is exactly sure why this surge is occurring. To use the term multifactoral is probably the most honest. It has something to do with these new variants, they are more contagious. Maybe some pandemic fatigue. Travel season, some spring break, so the mixing pot is stirring up a little more aggressively. So there’s a variety of things, and we’re not sure in public health where exactly this is going. ... If we think of a forest fire, I cannot imagine there’s enough tinder on the forest floor anymore to allow that to happen, but none of us really know.”
Remington urged residents not to let their guard down and asked people to keep wearing face coverings even though the mandate is changing to an advisory.
“Just keep doing this for awhile longer. I don’t know how long that is, but if we could just have another six or eight weeks, I think we’d understand a little bit more whether the curve will be going with these new variants,” he said. “I don’t think (wearing a mask) will be crushing for us as individuals to do it another six to eight weeks. We’ve been doing it for a year.”
Thallemer said city buildings will continue to require masks past the Tuesday, April 6 advisory change through at least the end of April.
“We’re just trying to avoid another spike,” Thallemer said. “The state is still under a public health emergency, so I think we’re kind of in a little bit of a limbo now. I feel great that we’re heading the right way and just continue to hope that everybody gets out and gets their vaccinations and let’s put an end to this thing.”
KCHD gets 1,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine weekly, Remington said. He reported almost 15,800 people in the county 16 and older have had at least one shot of vaccine, and 9,865 people are fully immunized, putting that at 12.4% of fully-immunized county residents.
Thallemer said he recently read a study that showed fewer Americans are apprehensive about getting the vaccine.
“Don’t be too concerned about which product you seek,” Remington said. “I’d take any of them offered to me. You can go online at www.ourshot.in.gov or call 211 and just say I’d like to be immunized against COVID. ... So please, be immunized. It works. It is an amazing modern take on a pandemic. Take advantage of it, please.”
The next coronavirus press conference is at 10:30 a.m. April 14 at City Hall and able to be viewed live online at warsaw.in.gov.
