Covid Update: County Reports 4 Deaths in 4 Days

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COURT HOUSE – This reporter’s neighbor went into a local store recently to find a group of customers and workers celebrating the fact that masks were no longer needed. 
“It’s the law,” one shouted. 
A local mayor told this reporter about a trip to get a haircut that day, entering to find no one else masked.
It is not the law, as the excited retail worker thought. In New Jersey, the indoor mask mandate for retail establishments, restaurants, and similar spaces remains in effect. 
Gov. Phil Murphy has not accepted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidance for indoor space, even as neighboring New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut announced they will go with the CDC.
Numbers
In Cape May County, the May 14 numbers released on Covid infections show 112 active cases. That’s a number lower than any in the last six months. 
The trend in county numbers is positive enough that the county Health Department’s daily releases ended May 10. The county now supplies a weekly release on Fridays.
Online Herald readers will note that the daily article announcing the county numbers also stopped at the same time. The Herald’s weekly chart of cases over time has also ended since it depended on the county releases to supply the data.
The numbers are impressive. The county reports 57% of adults in the county are fully vaccinated, with 80% of county residents over 65 being fully vaccinated. 
The vaccination pace is slowing each week, as that segment of the population most anxious to get the shots received them. Now, health officials must deal with the hesitant, procrastinators, and those who oppose vaccination. 
Progress at a slower pace is still being made each day. Getting to the goal of 70% of adults vaccinated may take until late June.
2 Concerns
The weekly summary issued by the county Health Department showed that from May 10, the last daily release, to May 14, the first weekly release of data, county Covid fatalities climbed by four. 
The release did not mention the four deaths and gave no details. The only recognition of them was in the chart of numbers. Four deaths in four days was the only place where the trend went the wrong way.
National data is showing a disturbing trend amid a positive one. On the positive side, Covid-related hospitalizations are declining rapidly. What is concerning is that the percentage of those hospitalized under 50 years old is climbing. 
At the beginning of the year, 22% of those hospitalized were under 50 years old. That number nearly doubled May 1 to 40%.
The shift in demographics of hospitalizations is likely driven by the heavier vaccination percentages among older Americans. 
The Oregon Health Authority, which saw a new spike in cases, also points to the influence of variants that have higher transmissibility among the unvaccinated. Health care system data from Colorado also shows a rise in 18 to 39-year-olds hospitalized.
The CDC notes the rising percentage of Covid cases involving variants and the age differentials in vaccination rates. The story health officials keep returning to is that vaccines work.
This week (May 11-17) showed there is still much about this coronavirus that baffles medical professionals. Suddenly, infections among younger individuals are leading to serious illnesses and deaths in ways that did not occur earlier.
The argument health officials have made for weeks appears to be playing out. Variants are likely contributing to a rise in hospitalizations among younger Americans who have not been vaccinated. 
Easing pandemic-related restrictions, along with a sense of greater invincibility among younger groups, could fuel risky behavior among the unvaccinated, leading to flare-ups. The solution is to get the vaccine.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.