Our speaker, Mark Pfister, has been with the Lake County Health Department for 29 plus years. He is currently the Executive Director. Mark shared with the Club the state of the pandemic in Lake County. As of Monday, it has been 462 days since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Lake County. Today, the Lake County positivity rate is 1.1%, which Mark attributes to county residents getting vaccinated. His goal is to get 80% of our population fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Of the estimated 2019 population of 696,535, 80% of seniors 65 and older are fully vaccinated while a little more than half (50.95%) of 16-64 age group are vaccinated. The department is working to get children 12-15 fully vaccinated and ready for a full time return to school in the fall. The only way to protect those under the age of twelve until the vaccine has been approved for that age group, is to vaccinate everyone that is eligible. Parents and legal guardians of children 12-15 are encouraged to register them on the Lake County All Vax Portal. The other important thing to know about the vaccine is that if we are all fully vaccinated, then the virus can't mutate. Sounds familiar, right? The main reason we have been successful in the U.S. so far is because of the vaccine. And while testing for the virus continues, there is work being done to create more sensitive and and better specificity to the tests. Mark warns that there is a lot junk products and snake oil salesmen out there. The department has begun sending over 200 community health ambassadors to connect with neighborhoods by going door-to-door to further educate and correct any misinformation people may have about the vaccine in order to curb their reluctance. Mark thanked us for getting vaccinated. He'll soon be off on a very well deserved and overdue vacation! |