Motivated, Southlanders, to beat the virus – Orange County Register

The Rams beat the 49ers, sending the Southern California team, not the Bay Area’s, into the Super Bowl on Sunday.

But on the public health front, we still have something to learn from Northern California, which is knocking us around the COVID-19 grid because of the proportion of its residents that use both a vaccine and vaccination is much higher.

And when we say those stats are killing us, we’re talking literally, not metaphorically.

So we’ll bring it to the fore: Let’s step up.

You made an effort to immunize the disease that has killed more than 900,000 Americans in the past two years, or at least 70% of Southern Californians have done. You get one of two Johnson & Johnson concoctions, or two of the Moderna or Pfizer versions. They protected you against a very serious disease that could easily kill you.

For all those grimacing kids you’ve ever seen photographed in the pages of these newspapers pretending that the blow was hurt, you know it’s not. You know, the side effects are usually mild, and for many people, nothing at all. You know, it takes almost no time of the day to get an injection, which is freely available to most Californians at the corner pharmacy. It couldn’t be easier to protect your health, that of the loved ones you may come in contact with, the health of those you come in contact with.

So why can’t you just get out and get a boost?

Because in contrast to the 70% of us who were initially vaccinated, only about a third of us were boosted.

In contrast, 84% of Santa Clara County residents were vaccinated, with 50% of them vaccinated. Not perfect by any means, but better than us by a lengthy encounter.

Because the push will pay off. In January, as Ron Lin of the Los Angeles Times reported, the COVID-19 death rate in Southern California was three times higher than in the Bay Area: 10.6 residents died per 100,000 there, compared with January. 3.7 residents there. About 2,400 people died here; about 300 on it.

That’s right, all of these statistics come from the current period of omicron variation increase. Yes, you have read that the variant is both more contagious and less deadly than previous versions of the new coronavirus. Yes, breakthrough cases – COVID-19 infection in both vaccinated and vaccinated people – are common now. But the deaths of your 2,400 neighbors are very real deaths. And there is simply no doubt that increasing strength significantly reduces the risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the disease.

So do yourself and the rest of us a huge favor by taking a few minutes to follow your doctor’s advice and get your booster shot.

We know Southern Californians, with the rest of the world, are sick and tired of worrying about being sick and tired. They want COVID to end. But it’s not.

One doctor told The New York Times: “A booster shot prompts the body to strengthen its defenses – even faster than the first or second shot – in just a few days,” one doctor told The New York Times. doctor told The New York Times. “I think that’s the biggest argument for staying healthy, even if you’ve had a recent infection,” says Dr. Amy Sherman.

It’s too soon to know if boosters will provide protection against brain fog, complete loss of sense of taste and smell, and other discomforts associated with “long COVID” – the disease that for some people it goes on. What is known for certain: Prolonged COVID can still occur in vaccinated individuals, but is “significantly less common than in unvaccinated individuals,” says a physical therapist at Mount Hospital Sinai said.

Protect yourself from that possibility. Driven against the new coronavirus to help all Southern Californians get through this pandemic.