Taylor County COVID-19 Weekly Update - 7/27/2021 

Taylor County COVID-19 Update – 7/27/2021

What is going on with cases in our county?

Taylor County is experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases, almost all of which are occurring in unvaccinated persons. The Florida weekly COVID-19 data report can be found at the link: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/ . This report is updated each Friday. Let’s look at July 2021 data:

Taylor:

Florida:

Most positive cases are occurring in unvaccinated individuals, between 15-44 years.

Looking for a COVID-19 vaccine? Your healthcare system has you covered.

Your local Department of Health (DOH) and other medical providers continue to offer the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost. If you would like to schedule with the health department, please call (850) 584-5087. Vaccines are also available through Doctors’ Memorial Hospital’s Medical Plaza in Perry or Steinhatchee and local pharmacy locations, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Winn Dixie, and Jay’s Pharmacy.

“I know someone who got the vaccine and still got COVID-19”

Breakthrough cases, also known as breakthrough infections, are not unique to COVID-19. A breakthrough case is when an individual is immunized through a vaccination for an illness, and still contracts the illness. This can occur with other vaccine preventable diseases such as chickenpox and influenza. However, breakthrough cases typically experience milder symptoms and can recover quicker.

How well is Taylor County doing with vaccination efforts?

Taylor County has 6,700 vaccinated residents. This accounts for about 34% of the population of those eligible (age 12+). The state of Florida has vaccinated 60% of the population of those eligible.

Fully vaccinated individuals:

• Do not have to quarantine if exposed unless they are experiencing symptoms.
• Can resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before travel or self-quarantine after travel.
• Can refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
• Can refrain from routine screening testing if asymptomatic and feasible.

The above recommendations apply to non-healthcare settings. We recommend that you research travel restrictions, rules, and guidelines before traveling, as these can vary in different locations. Fully vaccinated individuals should continue to watch for symptoms of COVID-19.

Watch those symptoms!

Common symptoms include headache, fever or chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and/or diarrhea. We often hear about “really bad sinus infections” or allergies that could be COVID-19.

REMINDER: if you test positive for COVID-19, please follow guidance from the health department. You can be with others after:

• At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and
• At least 24 hours with no fever without fever-reducing medications and
• Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.

If you had exposure to a positive case and are not vaccinated, please follow quarantine orders. Call the health department for any questions. Information about quarantine can be found at the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html

What about variants?

It is important to note that virus mutation is common and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. The approved COVID-19 vaccines are effective against all known variants of COVID-19.

The Florida Department of Health has been part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts since the beginning of the pandemic. The CDC is the lead agency on variant surveillance nationwide. To best understand variants, please refer to CDC data.

To better understand variants, please visit the CDC link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html

DOH-Taylor continues to urge all Floridians to get their COVID-19 vaccine. Please contact the health department for any questions related to COVID-19 at (850) 584-5087.