WP Perspectives – May 31, 2022

Posted on by krislandrum
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Focus on Facts

  • Franklin County is back in the HIGH Community Transmission Level, according the the most recent CDC report. Henry and Patrick counties are now Medium, up from Low, with Martinsville remaining at Low status. High status means a return of recommended indoor masking and on public transportation.
  • And yet . . .a Washington Post-Schar School poll finds fewer than 3 in 10 Americans say coronavirus is a major factor in their summer plans. Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they’ll probably or definitely go on vacation this summer.

 

  • VDH officials on Thursday reported the state’s first presumed case of monkeypox, in a Northern Virginia woman who had recently traveled to an African country . . .  State Health Commissioner Colin M. Greene stressed that, despite the national uptick, monkeypox is a very rare disease in the United States and that the Virginia patient does not pose a public health risk. “Transmission requires close contact with someone with symptomatic monkeypox, and this virus has not shown the ability to spread rapidly in the general population," he said. …

 

  • By now most people have probably heard about the recall of certain lots of JIF peanut butter, but it is having a ripple effect on products that were made using JIF. To see the latest, visit this FDA site.  You can visit this J.M. Smucker webpage to learn how to get reimbursed if you purchased any of the recalled peanut butter.

Jar of peanut butter

News You Can Use

Sick toddlerVaccines for the youngest to get FDA & CDC Review Soon

Parents hoping to get their youngest children vaccinated against COVID-19 got some encouraging news (last week).

Pfizer said three small doses of its vaccine offers strong protection to youngsters under 5, according to preliminary data. That news comes a month after Moderna said it would ask regulators to OK its two doses tor the youngest kids.

But a few steps remain before the shots are available. Health officials and their expert panels must first decide they are safe enough and provide enough protection to authorize them.

FDA REVIEW

U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks has pledged the agency will “move quickly without sacrificing our standards” in evaluating tot-sized doses from both Pfizer and Moderna.

The FDA has tentatively set a June 15 date for its scientific advisers to publicly review the two companies’ vaccines. After the advisers weigh in, the FDA determines whether to authorize the shot.

Moderna is seeking clearance for two low-dose shots for children under age 6 while Pfizer hopes to offer three extra-low doses to kids under age 5 — differences due to how each company studied its vaccine. Currently the U.S. recommends vaccinations for everyone age 5 and older, and Pfizer is the only option for those children. Moderna for now is used only in adults in the U.S.

CDC REVIEW

If either vaccine is cleared for the littlest kids, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to recommend whether all babies, toddlers and preschoolers should receive them or only those at high risk of a serious illness. The CDC would convene its own panel of advisers to debate the recommendation before issuing its official guidance.

ROLLOUT

The Biden administration has said the shots will roll out rapidly, and most tots are expected to be vaccinated in pediatricians’ offices or health clinics. It’s not clear how much demand there will be to vaccinate the youngest kids, however. Pfizer shots for 5- to 11-year-olds opened in November, but only about 30% of that age group have gotten the recommended initial two doses. WDBJ-7/AP 5/24/2022

Share Your Input!

The integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) aims to better understand investigators’ and community members’ perceptions about factors that might encourage or discourage community participation in health research.

Your input and participation in this study is vital to our work and we want to ensure your voice is heard. By completing this anonymous survey you can help our work with community members to improve health across the Commonwealth of Virginia.  We plan to share the survey findings with the communities we serve.

·        This anonymous survey is estimated to take 5-10 minutes to complete.

·        Your participation is completely voluntary and you can choose not to participate.

 

We encourage you to share the survey link with your friends, family, and community members.

The survey is currently open from May 4th-June 14th, 2022

Please scan the QR code below to complete the 5-10 minute anonymous survey

https://redcap.link/iTHRIVCommSurvey

QR code for iThriv survey

The Epi-Center

Epidemiology is the science at center of public health.

BERLIN (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over,” the head of the World Health Organization warned recently, despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the omicron wave. He told governments that “we lower our guard at our peril.”

The U.N. health agency's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told officials gathered in Geneva for opening of the WHO's annual meeting that “declining testing and sequencing means we are blinding ourselves to the evolution of the virus.” He also noted that almost 1 billion people in lower-income countries still haven't been vaccinated.

. . . While there has been progress, with 60% of the world's population vaccinated, “it’s not over anywhere until it’s over everywhere,” Tedros said.

“Reported cases are increasing in almost 70 countries in all regions, and this in a world in which testing rates have plummeted,” he added.

Reported deaths are rising in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccination coverage, he said, and only 57 countries — almost all of them wealthy — have vaccinated 70% of their people.

While the world's vaccine supply has improved, there is “insufficient political commitment to roll out vaccines” in some countries, gaps in “operational or financial capacity” in others, he said.

“In all, we see vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation and disinformation,” Tedros said. “The pandemic will not magically disappear, but we can end it.”  -- Martinsville Bulletin/AP  5/22/2022

COVID-19 Data

Franklin County
Henry County
Martinsville
Patrick County

Cases

524
643
128
159
Over the past 13 weeks by date of illness

Deaths

9
11
3
2
Over the past 13 weeks by date of death. 5/30/2022

Generational Health flyer

For more information about this event, email Ryan Bell. To register and for more information: https://form.jotform.com/221114129519146

Brooke RobersonWelcome, Brooke! 

Please help us welcome Brooke Roberson, who has joined West Piedmont Health District as a Community Health Worker intern. Her 240 hour internship is the final requirement to earn a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a minor in Psychology from Appalachian State University.

A Patrick County native, Brooke hopes to become involved in her community and to gain experience in the field of public health.  She will work with our current CHWs and primarily serve Patrick County.