Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Like all of North Carolina counties, Swain County’s community transmission rate for Covid-19 remains high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which continues to urge people to wear masks indoors and take other measures to prevent spread.
On Tuesday, Sept. 21, Swain County had 13 new daily cases and was reporting 144 cases over the past 14 days. That’s a drop from about 157 cases—the 14-day average reported last week. The county has had a total of 22 Covid-19 deaths since the pandemic began, according to the state dashboard at covid19.ncdhhs.gov.
There’s some positive news, with the state seeing its first dip in symptomatic patients presenting in hospitals. Swain has followed the statewide trend of a peak back in January and then a dramatic rise in cases with the Delta variant that began in July. Although spread is still extremely high— it appears to be leveling.
Statewide, there were 3,464 Covid patients in the hospital and an average of 900 in ICU. A third of those hospitalized are aged 49 or younger.
“Our hospitals are strained, and in other states we’ve seen care is not readily available for non-covid admissions. We don’t want that to happen here,” said Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen in a news conference Tuesday.
Both Cohen and Gov. Roy Cooper continued the message of a need for increased vaccinations.
Cooper shared a milestone that people aged 65 and older have reached a vaccination rate of 90% in the state. The biggest concern now is among youth.
Swain County lags behind the state in vaccination. According to the CDC, which includes data from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Swain County residents aged 12+ are 53% at least partially vaccinated and 45% fully vaccinated (covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker).
Statewide, the rates are 68% partially vaccinated and 63% fully vaccinated.
Spotlight on youth
Cooper called for an end to the bullying at school board meetings throughout the state highlighting the fact that youth (ages 12-24) have the lowest rate of vaccination, with less than half having at least one dose.
“Threats, bullying, intimidation— none of this belongs in our public schools, particularly by adults. Remember, our children are watching.”
The impact is real, he noted. Case rates are the highest in that age group.
The state opted to allow school districts to decide whether or not to require masks in schools, which set the stage for combative discussions at local district meetings across North Carolina.
Swain County’s Congressman Madison Cawthorn (NC, R-11) is among those who have drawn attention for speaking against mask mandates before school boards, both in neighboring Macon County in August and in Johnston County recently, which he does not represent.
Dr. Cohen noted that people 17 and younger are making up a third of all new cases this month.
She encouraged teenagers with questions about the vaccine to visit TeenVaxFacts.com.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Cooper also appealed to faith leaders to use their leadership role to encourage people to talk with their doctors and understand that vaccination is safe and effective.
Churches can even do more, like hosting vaccination clinics and can get help through the statewide program recently launched called Healthier Together, a health equity action network.
“For some people, the decision to get vaccinated was very easy for some others it’s very complicated,” Cohen said. “We know there is a lot of misinformation out there I urge you to talk to doctors and go to reliable online health resources.”
To learn more about where to get a vaccine, visit myspot.nc.gov or call the state’s COVID-19 vaccine hotline at 888-675-4567.