During the latest surge in the COVID pandemic, it is incumbent for everyone, but in particular those we trust to protect our elderly in nursing homes and our young children in school to take whatever measures they can to reduce the risk as much as possible.
In mid-November, we published a story about vaccination rates at long-term care facilities. Jaffrey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Jaffrey had one of the lowest COVID vaccination rates among staff in the state at 71%. It seemed an unnecessary risk among people who should be particularly motivated to protect themselves so that they can better protect others.
Now, we have learned from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services that an outbreak in the facility has resulted in 29 residents and five staff members testing positive. So far, there have been no deaths, and we hope everyone infected will recover quickly and completely. It is encouraging that the same report which cited the low levels of vaccination among staff included the information that approximately 95% of residents are fully vaccinated, and hopefully a large percentage of vaccinated residents and staff have since gotten their boosters.
Meanwhile, Mascenic School Board members recently rejected a proposal to change the threshold to base the district’s mask mandate on county numbers. Current district policy mandates masks if there are more than 10 cases in the district, which board member Mike Pellerito, called “reactive,” as he said it’s too late once the district reaches 10 cases.
In her explanation for voting against the proposal, Vice Chair Julia Lampinen said she didn’t want to change the rules midstream, that she believed in “personal responsibility” and didn’t want to tell parents what to do.
But she also said masking isn’t an “all-in-all” solution.
Maybe not.
So what is?
In reality, there isn’t just one, although vaccines come the closest. So please, get vaccinated and get your booster, wear a mask, maintain social distancing, wash your hands and stay home if you’re not feeling well.