Morgan County’s COVID positivity rate is remaining steady, while Region 3 overall mirrors more of the statewide upward trend.
Statewide vaccination eligibility opens up to everyone 16 and older one week from Monday as health officials try to stave off another possible surge of the virus.
Locally, Morgan County Health Department Administrator Dale Bainter says Morgan is holding its own while surrounding areas are also beginning to trend in the wrong direction.
“Here in Morgan County, we are continuing to do really well. Regionally we’ve gone from 1.9% to 2.5% positivity over the last two-week period. So we are climbing at a pretty steady rate in the region. Morgan County is holding very steady at 1.1%. I think that tells the tale of our community and what a great job our community has done to try and follow those guidances and keep the disease prevalence down.
We want to make sure we keep our guard up, keep wearing those masks, and get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible. That’s really the key to getting our lives back to normal.”
As of today, the preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate is up to 3.5% and over 3,200 new cases were confirmed and more than 3,500 Thursday.
The Morgan County Health Department continues to encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Bainter says even individuals who have had COVID should still be vaccinated. He says there is no prescribed waiting period after recovery.
“As far as after you’ve had COVID and you’ve been positive, of course, we want you to finish your isolation period, which is usually ten days from the onset of symptoms or a positive test. And then we just want to make sure that your symptoms are subsiding, getting better, or are gone.
But then once that’s taken place there’s no restriction. Once you finish that isolation period and you’re ready for your vaccine, you’re no longer ill, sign up for a clinic and we’ll get you vaccinated.”
Bainter says talk of having a three month free period after being sick is just that, talk.
“There’s no reason to put off getting that vaccination. As we are trying to get herd immunity and getting the community vaccinated for that long-lasting resistance to COVID. We want to vaccinate as many people as possible as rapidly as possible so that we can protect our community as a whole.”
To schedule a vaccination in Morgan County, call 217-479-1817, or go to the Morgan County Health Department’s website at morganhd.com.