COVID cases are on the rise with unvaccinated individuals

Last Thursday I had a video appointment with my kidney doctor. Now normally I would not want to tell you about a doctor visit. In fact, it would be TMI (too much information), but this time was different.
 The appointment was scheduled for 2 p.m. Forty minutes later, I called the nurse to let her know the doctor was still not on the call. She said this was highly unusual for the doctor, suggested I wait another 10 minutes, and she would contact the doctor to say that I was waiting. Twenty minutes later, when I was just about to terminate the connection, he came on. My doctor apologized and thanked me for my patience.
 Now I’ll explain why I wanted to share this visit with you.
 The first thing the doctor asked about was not my kidneys. He wanted to know how Weiser is doing with the current COVID surge.
 The doctor was late because he had been in the emergency room setting up two relatively young COVID patients on dialysis who had complete kidney failure due to complications related to the virus. One of the patients was in their 30’s, the other was in their early 50’s and now both individuals will be on dialysis for the rest of their lives unless they are fortunate enough to have a transplant. In addition, while the doctor was in the ER treating his two patients, another COVID patient, a young man in his early 20’s, was being intubated.
 The doctor wanted me to emphasize to you that this Delta variant is affecting much younger people – unlike the earlier Alpha variant which mainly had a serious effect on the elderly.  
 I would also like to point out my doctor is not an emergency room doc. He was helping out because the emergency room in Boise was overwhelmed.
 Statewide, our hospitals are full. The National Guard has been called out to help. Governor Little has instituted other emergency measures to try to cope. Hospitals are having a hard time caring for non-COVID emergencies simply because of the number of COVID cases.
 Information I received from our local Southwest District Health office shows that we are just at the beginning of this surge. I mentioned last week how quickly the virus is spreading by showing that at the end of each week since Aug. 6, Washington County’s new case numbers have progressed as follows: 3, 19, 26, 34. This week skyrocketed to 105. To put this in perspective, the highest 7-day period last winter was 90 cases.
 The really concerning part is that we are just at the beginning of this current wave. According to projections provided by our local Southwest District Health, at the surge’s peak the number of new cases is expected to be around FIVE TIMES what we experienced during last winter’s peak. And, so far, Washington County’s numbers are lining up with the projections.
 While records are not being kept on how many new cases are from people who are already vaccinated, careful records are being kept of the number of hospitalized people who have been vaccinated. Of the COVID hospitalizations, 98.97 percent were unvaccinated. Of the COVID deaths, 99.38 percent were unvaccinated.
 I am not giving you this information to be an alarmist. I am passing on this information because I do not want the people of Weiser to experience unnecessary pain and suffering when the solution is simple and easy to get.
 Vaccines are available at Ridley’s, Bi-Mart, and Family Medical Center.
 Last winter we all seemed to be anxiously waiting for the vaccine to arrive so we could stop wearing masks, distancing, sanitizing, and avoiding gatherings. As the number of cases dropped off during the spring and summer, as a whole, we began acting as if the pandemic was over. The only problem is that more than half of us did not get vaccinated.
 Well, that’s it for this week. If you have not been vaccinated, now is the time.