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COVID around for second Christmas season

By DAWN HANKINS - dhankins@t-g.com
Posted 12/21/21

Tennessee Department of Health announces walk-in options at clinics for COVID-19 vaccine.  

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COVID around for second Christmas season

Posted

Tennessee Department of Health announces walk-in options at clinics for COVID-19 vaccine.  

That’s good information, as Bedford County continues to deal with the coronavirus and its mutations, or strains, for the second consecutive Christmas.  

As of Friday afternoon, Tennessee Health Department reports 128 active new COVID-19 cases in Bedford County, with 11 new cases reported in that single day.  

Though, the good news for the season is that compared to 202, the numbers are lower. Bedford’s total COVID-19 case count, since recording began in March of 2020, is 9,746 positive cases. There’s been 176 deaths since, due to the pandemic.  

Neighboring Coffee County is near the same COVID-19 case level this season as neighboring Bedford with currently 130 cases, as reported by THD on Friday. That includes 20 brand new cases for Dec. 17.  

Tennessee remains an optional state, when it comes to masks, though some businesses continue to request them. THD reports that over 8 million Tennesseans have to date received a COVID-19 vaccine. That breaks down to about 57% having had one dose, while about 50% are fully vaccinated, THD reports.  

How do vaccines work?  

THD reports that these vaccines work by giving your body “the recipe” to make the protein that is on the outside of the coronavirus.  

When your body “sees that protein,” THD states it will make protective antibodies to it. Later, if the body sees the real virus, it will remember seeing that protein and destroy the virus before it has a chance to make you sick, according to THD.  

For more information, see Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC.  

Immunity after vaccine  

Health department officials report they’ve learned from clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people who took the vaccine that vaccination helps protect adults and children ages 5 years and older from getting severely ill with COVID-19.  

For more information on how the vaccine works and data on effectiveness visit Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccines Work | CDC.  

More COVID cases in L.A.  

Los Angeles County, California health officials today that 3,512 new coronavirus cases for Sunday— more than double the number of cases recorded just a few days before.  

California recorded 49 cases of the Omicron variant as of Wednesday, with 38 of those in L.A. County. That’s much lower than the 184,700 identified cases of the Delta variant, which remains the state’s dominant strain.  

Health officials expect the number of Omicron cases to rise as the variant is believed to be more contagious than Delta and better at evading immunity generated by vaccines or previous infections.  

Health department officials state that vaccines still offer protection against severe illness and death caused by Omicron.