Keep Doing What You Do To Stay Safe Say Health Officials
Now that Yakima County has been allowed to stay in Phase 3 of the state's reopening plan health officials urge everyone to not drop their guard against
COVID-19. They're concerned about COVID variants spreading in the community the reason why officials say community members are encouraged to continue following public health recommendations to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the variants. Those that are eligible are encouraged to get the vaccine. Health officials like Melissa Sixberry, Director of Disease Control, Yakima Health District say the local case investigation team has found that many cases of COVID-19 are the result of large social gatherings. She says everyone in Yakima needs to get vaccinated, have small gatherings and gather outdoors as much as possible. That's necessary to keep case counts and hospitalizations low so Yakima county isn't forced to go back to Phase 2.
Health officials say it won't take much to push Yakima County over the metrics so they're urging everyone to continue to do what they've been doing to stay healthy and COVID-19 free. Health officials across the nation are very concerned about vaccine hesitancy which they say is a big challenge especially when there's reports of problems with the vaccine like the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Are you a woman between the ages of 18 and 48-years-old who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine? The CDC and the FDA have recommended a nationwide pause on doses after six women reported cases of a blood clot. Blood clots can be deadly and because of that a major investigation is underway.