RONCEVERTE, WV (WOAY)- “This isn’t propaganda , fear tactics, or politics, this is actual data from a health crisis,” those words from, Greenbrier County Health Officer, Dr. Bridgett Morrison.
A joint meeting of the Greenbrier County Health Department and the County Commission, Dr. Morrison urgently reiterated the need for masks and vaccinations due to the ever-increasing numbers of COVID-19.
“I come here today as essentially a desperate plea for our community for our health care workers, we have been in the red for weeks and weeks now, our daily infection rate and percent positivity has just continued to climb,” says Dr. Morrison.
Because of the 2,000 plus new COVID-19 cases on Friday in West Virginia, and hospitals across the state at full capacity, Dr. Linda Boyd, Dean of Medicine at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine says, “a mask gives 40% protection, but what’s even better is the vaccine, because it gives you 80% protection.”
“If our hospital is at capacity and you take out COVID-19, you have other medical emergencies or some sort of trauma, there might not be any beds, or enough providers, and that’s not just here locally, that’s regionally, that’s statewide, that’s nationwide,” Dr. Morrison says.
According to health experts, the rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 has now surpassed what it was last fall and winter.
