Category: Diseases and injuries

COVID-19 update- Using Community Levels to guide prevention

COVID-19 Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. 

This information is current as of the date of original publication or update. It may have changed by the time you read this. I invite you to fact-check what you read here.

Please do not use this information for diagnosis or treatment purposes. Before making health decisions, discuss with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider.

There’s another COVID guideline update from the CDC, different from previous ones. The new guideline is community specific, and enables us to make smart, informed choices about what we do to mitigate viral spread.

Know Your COVID-19 Community Level

COVID-19 Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. 

Take precautions to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 based on the COVID-19 Community Level in your area. Find your county’s numbers at this link.

COVID-19 County Check

What Prevention Steps Should You Take Based on Your COVID-19 Community Level?

LOW

MEDIUM

HIGH

People may choose to mask at any time. People with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask.

My thoughts

I usually post the CDC guidelines without comments but this time I will. These new guidelines should be welcome for those who don’t like wearing a mask (as if any of us do) and think it should be “personal preference”.

COVID-19 has not disappeared, and possibly never will.

So as it says above anyone may still wear a mask any time they prefer, and should be able to do so without being ridiculed, teased, criticized, or any other form of harrassment. Anyone should feel free to avoid large crowded events. And guests should respect their host’s preference for guidelines in their home or event.

Anyone with COVID symptoms or diagnosed COVID should avoid contact with other people, even if the others are immune.

DO NOT GO TO WORK SICK.

The previous guidelines concerning symptoms, testing, isolation, guarantine, and vaccination are still in place.

update January 5, 2022

CDC now recommends that adolescents age 12 to 17 years old should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series.

Data show that COVID-19 boosters help broaden and strengthen protection against Omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants. ACIP reviewed the available safety data following the administration of over 25 million vaccine doses in adolescents; COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

At this time, only the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and recommended for adolescents aged 12-17.

Isolation and Quarantine

Every time I’ve done a COVID-19 update I think it will be the last, but I should know better by now. Unlike the others about vaccination, this one is about isolation-what you do if you are infected, and quarantine-what you do if you are exposed.

If You Test Positive for COVID-19 (Isolate)

Everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

  • Stay home for 5 days.
  • If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you can leave your house.
  • Continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.

If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever resolves.

If You Were Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)

If you:

Have been boosted
OR
Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months
OR
Completed the primary series of J&J vaccine within the last 2 months

  • Wear a mask around others for 10 days.
  • Test on day 5, if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

If you:

Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted
OR
Completed the primary series of J&J over 2 months ago and are not boosted
OR
Are unvaccinated

  • Stay home for 5 days. After that continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.
  • If you can’t quarantine you must wear a mask for 10 days.
  • Test on day 5 if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home

This one comes with some confusion, which is nothing new for the isolation/quarantine guidelines. It also comes with some controversy; was the CDC director influenced by corporate needs, specifically the airline industry? And are these guidelines safe, do they risk returning infectious people to work and social life too soon ?

I don’t know the answer to those questions but I can give you answers from the top two public health officials in the United States.

“getting people back in half the time that they would have been out so they can get back to the workplace doing things that are important to keep society running smoothly.”

Dr.Anthony Fauci

 “CDC’s updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine balance what we know about the spread of the virus and the protection provided by vaccination and booster doses. These updates ensure people can safely continue their daily lives.”

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky
updated November 29,2021

Everyone ages 18 and older should get a booster shot

You may choose which COVID-19 vaccine you receive as a booster shot. Some people may prefer the vaccine type that they originally received, and others may prefer to get a different booster. CDC’s recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots. 

Studies show after getting vaccinated against COVID-19, protection against the virus and the ability to prevent infection with variants may decrease over time.

update-November 2, 2021

Today, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that children 5 to 11 years old be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine. 

CDC now expands vaccine recommendations to about 28 million children in the United States in this age group and allows providers to begin vaccinating them as soon as possible.

“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against the virus that causes COVID-19. We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

As a mom, I encourage parents with questions to talk to their pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more about the vaccine and the importance of getting their children vaccinated.” 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky , CDC Director
  • GIRL STATUE, BUSHES, RED FLOWER
  • SMILING GIRL STATUE
  • statue of a girl reaching for a butterfly
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Keith Wheeler-a Cross and COVID

No, I wasn’t mad at God, I know that bad things happen to everyone. Jesus said that whoever wants to save their life should lose it, (Luke 9:24) so I know that either way I would be with Him. Jesus is my hope, my confidence, and peace, in all my life, including COVID.

If you missed part 1 of this series, you may want to read it first.

Keith Wheeler- a cross and a collarbone

Keith walks around doing what he simply calls “serving God, loving people.” He started in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Good Friday 1985 and thought it was going to be a one-time event. But he felt God wanted him to continue carrying the cross around the surrounding towns, then the rest of Oklahoma, and on into surrounding…

In it, I introduced you to Keith Wheeler who has walked around the world-literally; he has covered over 25,000 miles on all 7 continents. He can’t say how many countries, since names and boundaries change, but it’s at least 180. And on every step, he has carried a 90 pounds, 12 feet by 6 feet cross draped over his shoulder.

Keith does this because he loves Jesus, and he wants people to know that Jesus loves them too. In his own words,

“I love God and I love the people of the world. To me, ministry is simply the overflow of a life lived in love with Jesus. I feel that Jesus has many servants but very few friends. It’s one thing to be called a friend; it’s another to actually be a friend. I want to be His friend.

2020-a travel interruption

After trips to Tuvalu, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Northwest Territories, Canada in early 2020, Keith’s travels were interrupted by the pandemic in March. For the rest of 2020 he walked through the Tulsa Oklahoma area, near his home and even made it to Washington, D.C. where he encountered some people he knows from Tulsa.

Keith in Washington, D.C.

I’ll tell you more about his 2020 activities in the next post of this series.

2021- travel resumes; then another interruption

He travelled to Paraguay in March 2021 despite difficult pandemic travel restrictions.  By the time he landed back home at Tulsa International Airport he was feeling unwell. Over the next day he continued “feeling a little puny”, with a sore throat and stuffy nose. He consulted a physician who recommended a nasal swab viral test-and so on March 21, 2021, Keith was diagnosed with COVID-19.

A special time with Jesus

On Keith’s Facebook page from March 21 through 28, 2021, he described his “COVID timeout”. He did a series of videos from his study, where he keeps his second cross that has been retired. He spent much of his time there, to remain isolated from his family. He called this a “special time with Jesus.”

In November 2021 I visited with Keith by video to talk about his life, his ministry, and specifically his COVID-19 illness. As I mentioned in part 1, it’s hard to interview Keith about himself, because invariably he turns the conversation back to Jesus. But that’s how he lives his life, so to meet Keith is to meet Jesus.

This part will be in interview format with me as AO and Keith as KW. It is edited for clarity and  I’ve inserted some background information for context.

The interview-November 2021

AO: Keith, how did you feel when you learned you had COVID-19? Were you a little mad at God, after all you caught it while you were travelling on his behalf? Did you worry that you might die of COVID?

KW: No, I wasn’t mad at God, I know that bad things happen to everyone. Jesus said that whoever wants to save their life should lose it, (Luke 9:24) so I know that either way I would be with Him. Jesus is my hope, my confidence, and peace, in all my life, including COVID.

AO: Keith, what was COVID like for you? How did you manage the symptoms?

KW: I had sniffles, a sore throat, and chills. I lost my sense of smell; and I still don’t have it for bad smells. The worst was my mental focus was off, so much so I couldn’t read.  I was sleepy and slept a lot. I kept myself hydrated, took vitamins, and concentrated on breathing.

AO: And what about your wife?

KW: Nicole was out of town when I got home from Paraguay and got diagnosed with COVID. So I had time to sanitize the areas of the house I had used and moved upstairs before she returned.  

She would leave meals at the bottom of the stairs, I would come down, take it back up. I would sit at the top of the stairs eating and she sat at the bottom, so we could still have meals together. When I felt up to it, we went outdoors for walks-she walked on the sidewalk and I walked in the middle of the street, 6 feet away.

In his COVID timeout videos, each day he said he was “doing well”, and by the 24th,  he was “better”. By Sunday March 28, he ended isolation-fitting since that was Palm Sunday, the day Christians remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey; a week later he would be crucified on a cross like the one Keith carries. (John 12:12-14)

By Good Friday, April 2, 2021, Keith was back out on the road, carrying the cross in Florida.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted much since my Covid “timeout”! Lots of fun things have been going on… As we carried the cross in Florida on Good Friday so very many precious, beautiful people came to the cross…

Of course, the pandemic was still active, so when necessary, Keith masked up-in his own style of course.

HAHA! WAAAY better than the “standard” blue face mask!

Keith and I talked about lessons learned from the pandemic and his thoughts on the division that has rocked our nation this past 2 years. He calls this a “season of adjustment” in which we have “missed the presence of Jesus.” I’ll share more about that in part 3, as well as a unique encounter right here in Tulsa.

Exploring the HEART of health with Keith Wheeler

a world globe with two crossed bandaids

Doctor Aletha