After enduring 16 months of disruption in the pandemic and more than 605,000 deaths, people and families joined together across the US to celebrate the 245th birthday of America.
When Biden took office, he stated that he would like to see 70 percent of the adult population vaccinated. The U.S. fell short at 67%, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 200 Americans still die each day from COVID-19, and tens of millions have chosen not to get the lifesaving vaccines. About 1,000 counties across the U.S. have a vaccination rate below 30%, and the federal government is warning that they could become the next hot spots as virus restrictions ease and the variants of the virus, especially thedelta variant , continues to hit every state in the U.S., spiking the highest in Colorado and Missouri.
Squads of infectious disease experts, public health professionals, doctors and nurses are getting ready to assist in additional locations with a combination of low vaccination rates and rising cases. According to the Oklahoma Health Department a total of 1,770, 574 people have received at least their first dose of the vaccine and 1, 515,857 are fully vaccinated. Yet, COVID and it's variants continue to make the rounds, taking lives as it goes. Our own community of Bristow has seen an increase of 12 cases since reporting last week, now looking at a total of 971 cases since the pandemic began, compared to 959 cases reported last week. Creek County is reporting a total of 7,100 cases with 165 lives claimed. The OSDH reports that 57 percent of new cases are between the ages of 18 - 35; 54 percent are between the ages of 36 – 49; then the percentage drops considerably, down to 19 percent of people ages 50 – 64 and 14 percent of cases are 65 years and older.
As businesses and cities continue to reopen, and restrictions are loosened, vaccines are the key to beating COVID and stopping the spread.