Health officer: Pandemic still active among the unvaccinated
By SHELLY SULSER
Battle Creek Shopper
News
There are two dynamics
happening in Calhoun
County related to COVID-
disease now that only
43-percent of the 134,
population is fully vaccinat-
ed: The virus is still spread-
ing among the unprotected
while only a tiny percentage
of the protected is getting
sick.
That’s according to
Calhoun County Public
Health Officer Eric Pessell
who said that in fact, no one
who has died or hospitalized
since the vaccinations were
released last Spring was fully
vaccinated.
“Even the people who
have been hospitalized have
not been vaccinated,” said
Pessell, who, while celebrat-
ing the all-time low 1.4-per-
cent seven-day average
infection rate is also worried
about an autumn spike
among the unmasked and
unvaccinated.
“I would like to say, and
this is important,” he contin-
ued. “I get updates daily
from our hospitals if they
have any new admittance
since the previous day and I
got an update today
(Wednesday, July 14) from
one of our hospitals where
they had a new admittance,
and it was somebody over
the age of 80.
“And, I just thought to
myself,” added Pessell,
“‘how can we be over 80 and
not have been vaccinated?’
That’s sad because it’s 100
percent preventable.”
He said in no uncertain
terms that the patient would
not be in the hospital if the
patient had been vaccinated.
“That’s what we’re talking
about,” said Pessell. “That’s
the reality. The ones who are
going to go to the hospital
are the ones who are not vac-
cinated.”
The lowest county infec-
tion rate prior to the 1.4 per-
cent seven-day average, said
Pessell, occurred last July
(2020) when it dipped to 1.
percent prior to the release ofthe Pfizer, Modern and
Johnson and Johnson vacci-
nates thanks to Federal Food
and Drug Administration
emergency use authoriza-
tions.
“Last summer, after we
started to open back up, like
the restaurants were some-
time in June around that time
frame and what we started to
see and what kind of fueled
Calhoun County was, we had
a couple large outbreaks at
the end of the summer relat-
ed to weddings,” said Pessell.
“Very large weddings. We
had a wedding where we had
I think 50 people who attend-
ed the wedding became posi-
tive but that 50 led to me
want to say 250 or 350 peo-
ple becoming positive
because that 50 then came
into contact with other peo-
ple and made them sick.”
Many people who attend-
ed may have been infected
without knowing it, he said.
“There’s that time period
before you know that you’re
contagious and some of them
were household contacts and
things like that,” he said, “so
there were people who never
even attended the wedding
who got sick from the wed-
ding because they came in
contact with someone that
attended the wedding.
“That kind of seeded the
end of summer and like I said
in November,” he said, “we
just skyrocketed.”
This summer, however,
infections are low not only
due to people not being in
large, indoor crowds for the
most part, he said, but also
because most of their activi-
ties are outdoors.
As of 9:24 a.m. on
Tuesday, July 20, Calhoun
County had a cumulativetotal of 12,513 cases, up 38
cases from 12,475 on
Thursday, July 15, with a
total of 300 deaths attributed
to the virus on both days, (no
new deaths since July 15)
according to the county web-
site.
As of Tuesday, July 20,
four people were hospital-
ized.
The information is updat-
ed once daily, Monday
through Friday, at http://www.cal-
houncountymi.gov.
“I think it’s important for
everybody to know, and I’m
not trying to scare people or
whatever,” said Pessell, “the
importance here is, this is the
same pattern we saw last
year, and you’ve seen that
now. COVID hasn’t gone
away. Right now, it’s just not
prevalent in our community
just as it wasn’t prevalent last
July.
“This fall,” he continued,
“I don’t know. I am con-
cerned about this fall and
those folks who have not
protected themselves or
those kids who haven’t been
able to get protected yet.”
That’s because the Delta
variant appears to be affect-
ing children much younger,
he said.
“I saw a report today, in
the state of Mississippi, they
have 10 children under age
12 in ICU,” said Pessell.
“That’s not something we’ve
seen here. We’ve had some
children in the hospital but
not like that. But it’s a con-
cern.”
Pessell worries that people
think the virus doesn’t affect
children.
“I think that people that
think that COVID is going to
act like it did in April, May
and June of 2020, or in Sept.of 2020, where they say,
‘well, it doesn’t affect kids’,”
said Pessell. “How many
times have you heard that?
With what’s being passed
around now with the differ-
ent variants, I don’t know if
that’s a factual statement
anymore.”
While area school superin-
tendents have suspended
their weekly meetings with
Pessell, they are set to resume
this week, he said, to begin
planning for the start of
school next month.
“I would just like to see
the schools have a plan that
takes into account the current
situation where we have very
little transmission and then
what are they going to do if
they start to see a spike in the
fall?” he said. “And what
will they require, not require,
if they start to see higher
community transmission
again, like greater than 10
percent, things like that.
“I think if we address that
now and put it in a plan, I
think that makes the most
sense.”
Masking, social distanc-
ing, handwashing and vacci-
nations together are the best
way to suppress the virus,
said Pessell, who referred to
a stark example given by
Kalamazoo and Calhoun
Counties Public Health
Director, Dr. William
Nettleton.
“When you look at the
state recommendations, the
CDC recommendations, they
really talked about mitiga-
tion strategies and you know
a much bigger picture like, I
think the state uses some-
thing that Dr. Nettleton
began, I wish he would have
patented it,” said Pessell.
“He calls it ‘layers of Swiss
cheese.’ Think about the pro-
tection is like Swiss
cheese. Swiss cheese has
holes in it, right? But if you
do four slices of Swiss cheese
on each other, those holes
can be covered.
“And so, there’s no single
mitigation strategy that is a
silver bullet other than get-
ting your vaccination,” added
Pessell. “But all of these
other things can reduce the
risk of transmission if you do
them.”
In Calhoun County, “vac-
cine ambassadors” are play-
ing a role in the effort to
increase the number of those
who have received protec-
tion against COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 vaccine
ambassadors are in Battle
Creek and Albion speaking
with residents in Calhoun
County about their vaccine
questions and concerns,”
according to a county press
release. “With the efforts of
the ambassadors, the Public
Health Department hopes
this will increase our current
rate of COVID-19 vaccina-
tion in Calhoun County.”
Currently, the vaccine rate
of individuals who have full
vaccination in Calhoun is
49.6 percent, but the goal is
to reach 70 percent “to truly
feel confident that we havethe spread of the vaccine
under control.”
The State vaccine dash-
board shows that as of July
14, 2021, 104,445 doses
have been administered to
Calhoun County residents,
from various sources, not
just the Public Health
Department, according to a
press release.
In Calhoun County, total
shots administered by the
Public Health Department as
of July 12 are, 21,042 first
dose and 18,979 second dose
shots.
Between July 4-12, the
Public Health Department
administered 29 vaccine
doses.
“Our first dose totals
include all who are vaccinat-
ed by CCPHD with one dose
of any vaccine: Pfizer,
Moderna, or Johnson &
Johnson,” the press released
conveyed.
Recently, a new vaccine
clinic location was added to
the Public Health
Department’s ongoing sched-
ule of vaccine clinics.
The CCPHD ended the
vaccine clinic at 820 Mann
Rd in Marshall and moved it
to 225 E Watson St. in
Albion.
This replaces the recurring
every third Wednesday from
3-6 p.m., and the change sup-
ports efforts by the
Population Health Alliance
and Albion Health Care
Alliance as they begin door-
to-door canvassing in Albion.
CCPHD clinic times and
locations:- Thursday, July 22, 3:00p
- 6:00p, Kellogg Community
College, 450 North Ave,
Battle Creek. Pfizer vaccine,
12 years and older, J&J vac-
cine for 18 years and older
upon request. No appoint-
ment necessary. - Wednesday, July 27,
3:00p - 6:00p, Northwestern
Middle School, 176 Limit St,
Battle Creek, MI 49037.
Pfizer vaccine, 12 years and
older, J&J vaccine for 18
years and older upon request.
No appointment necessary.
Second dose return date
August 17.
COVID-19 vaccine is also
available by appointment
only at both Public Health
Department clinic locations: - Toeller Building, 190 E
Michigan Ave, Battle
Creek, (269) 969- - Albion Health
Department, 214 E Michigan
Ave, Albion, 517-629-
Both clinics are open
Monday - Thursday 7 a.m.-
12:30 p.m. and 1-4:30 p.m.,
as well as Fridays 8 a.m.-
Noon. (“Please call the
appropriate office to set up
an appoint,” the press release
conveyed.)
The public can keep up
with Calhoun County vac-
cine efforts at
calhouncountymi.gov/
covidvaccine
The State of Michigan
launched the ‘MI Shot To
Win’ Sweepstakes that gives
2021
- Accepting Most
Insurance including
Medicare and Medicaid
- No referral needed
- Same day appointments
available
269-781-
1170 W. Michigan Ave.
Marshall, MI 49068
Monday, Wednesday & Friday:
8:00am - 12:00pm and 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Tuesday: 8:00am - 11:00am and 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Saturday by appointmentDr. Harmony Dawson, D.C,
Dr. Brent Dawson, D.CContinued next page