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Public Health Warning

The following is a Public Health Warning from Huntington County Public Health Officer Matt Pflieger dated Wednesday, Aug. 25:

We continue to be in the midst of a global pandemic of COVID-19 that has taken more than 600,000 American lives. Despite safe and effective vaccines being readily available, the vaccination rate for Indiana and Huntington County lags behind the national average.

There is currently an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases in Huntington County and Indiana, which is coupled with a rapid increase in hospitalizations.

The Delta variant has been the cause of most of our new COVID-19 cases and appears to spread more easily.

Because of our current situation, I’m advising Huntington County residents to take the following actions:

Get vaccinated
Pfizer is now FDA approved. In addition, all three vaccines are safe, effective and remain the most important tool in reducing your personal risk of severe disease and protecting the hospitals and healthcare workers.

Wear a mask indoors
Huntington County remains an area of HIGH COVID-19 spread and CDC recommends universal masking in areas of HIGH or SUBSTANTIAL spread. The current level of spread can be visualized here: covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view.

Masking in K-12 schools
While children are at lower risk for hospitalization and death, this is not a benign illness in children. Children under 12 are not eligible currently for any of the vaccines. Children who are infected can easily spread the disease in their households and are an important driver of overall community spread. Vaccinations and masks are our best tools for keeping kids in school.

It’s critically important that we not overwhelm our healthcare systems or our healthcare workers. Our systems are rapidly filling up with very ill COVID-19 patients. Our healthcare workers are exhausted and not yet recovered from the last surge in the fall and winter. We have an obligation to our community and I urge you to take action as listed above.