CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As West Virginia and the United States mark one year since the coronavirus pandemic caused a nationwide lockdown, the leading Kanawha County health officer is noting the county’s progress in vaccinating residents as well as decreasing case numbers.
Dr. Sherri Young, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s executive director and health officer, said improvements in responding to the pandemic are “very encouraging.”
“We’re not all fully vaccinated and we are still seeing cases, so we want to be very careful as things are reopening,” she said. “People are eager — and we absolutely understand that — but we need to be very careful by wearing our masks, social distancing, washing our hands, doing the things that got us through the hump throughout the pandemic.”
Young noted interest in vaccination clinics continues to grow and the health department is receiving additional vaccine doses. The department launched a pilot program related to the availability of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, in which officials have allowed a select number of residents choices between the three available vaccines.
“The other piece of the pilot program is targeted outreach,” she said. “We finally have a vaccine that is 100% effective against hospitalization and death. It’s a one-dose vaccine, which means logistically, this is our opportunity to vaccinate people who are homebound in a more efficient effort, do outreach for our homeless community in a more efficient manner so that we don’t lose people to follow up, and also utilizing it for people who are at-risk and need to be vaccinated more quickly.”
Young also warned people to not relax their owns practices as numbers improve and statewide coronavirus restrictions are lifted; she noted people who do not follow rules and existing practices pose a risk in getting back to pre-pandemic conditions.
“We hope that the public doesn’t have the perception that the numbers are going down and everything’s opening up, so everything is back to normal,” she said. “What we need to be careful with is that when people do go back into the public, they are wearing their masks, socially distancing and taking all of those precautions because we are vulnerable.”
West Virginia went below 5,300 active cases last week; active cases in Kanawha County are around 600.