The Health Initiative for Rural Pennsylvania is hoping to help communities fight COVID.

The HIRP recently formed an advisory group. When that group met for the first time, members of Warren County government and stakeholder agencies were represented.

Presenters offered information about from vaccinations to deaths.

The information was not encouraging.

According to the presentation, Warren County had a 46.76 percent vaccination rate among all residents ages 5 and up.

The statewide rate was reported at 59 percent and the national rate at 78.8 percent.

Warren is not out of line among Pennsylvania’s north central counties — “it appears that the northernmost counties, those contiguous with New York, are among the lowest rates of vaccinations,” Akif said.

That data was not evaluated in a vacuum.

Akif said the advisory group also addressed the average COVID-related death rate.

At the time of the meeting, Warren County’s rate was 344.47 per 100,000 people and the statewide average was 249, according to the presenters. Warren County had the highest county COVID death rate in the Commonwealth. There are counties that have seen many more deaths, but none in which a higher percentage of the population has died due to the pandemic.

The data made sense to the Warren County contingent. “Anecdotally, it matches the increase in deaths that we are seeing through our contacts in the healthcare field,” Akif said. “I guess we need to look no further that the Warren Times Observer obituaries that seem to be showing higher numbers than usual, as well as many sudden or brief illnesses preceding death.”

COVID STATS

As of Friday’s statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 141 county residents have died of COVID-related causes. The rate per 100,000 population on Friday was 359.8.

The department said there have been 4,503 cases in the county so far, an increase of 51 on Friday. Almost 11.5 percent of the population has been infected with COVID.

Vaccination statistics were not updated on Friday. The Thursday figures show 2,493 partially vaccinated and 15,975 fully vaccinated residents, with 2,652 residents having received boosters.

There are about 36,600 county residents ages five and over. According to the department’s numbers, that would mean 43.6 percent of the county in that age group is fully vaccinated and about 50.4 percent is at least partially vaccinated.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, more residents have been vaccinated (possibly in part due to the inclusion of those who received vaccinations out-of-state). The CDC percentages are 62.1 percent at least partially vaccinated and 48.1 percent fully vaccinated.

TESTING

The free AMI testing site at the Israel Building at Warren State Hospital will remain open for another week. According to Warren County Public Safety Director Ken McCorrison, AMI will be leaving after working on Monday, Nov. 22.

According to CDC, there were 820 tests performed in the county, including those at the AMI site, in the week ending Nov. 9. Of those, 22.42 percent were positive.

A positive test means the patient almost certainly has COVID-19.

“When testing for COVID through Warren General Hospital, a PCR test is 99.9 percent accurate,” Akif said. “PCR is the gold standard. If you are looking for false positive results, the PCR does not have this challenge.”

“We also do antigen testing and a positive result means that you are positive,” he said. “The antigen test does have a chance of a false negatives, but it is very low. If you are positive, the antigen test is 99.5% accurate.”

“In our studies at WGH, we have run parallel tests and not found any false positives to date,” Akif said.

Someone who is positive can pass the COVID infection to others. And, whether they have symptoms or not does not determine how seriously the virus will impact others.

“If you test positive, then you are infectious,” Akif said. ” If you are positive, you can definitely still spread the virus — with or without symptoms.”

“Each person responds differently based upon their general health,” he said. “You can exhibit no symptoms or you can exhibit respiratory and other flu like symptoms.”

“If positive, you should not go about your usual activities,” Akif said. “This is why people quarantine. Until you pass your infectious stage, you can always pass the virus.”

He recommends the vaccine and masking.

“Aside from vaccination, masks are our best defense against spread,” Akif said. “While appropriate masks are effective in defense, we often don’t realize how often we do not wear them correctly. We adjust often because they may be uncomfortable or we lower them to drink and eat. The safest practice is to quarantine the 10 to 14 days based on the severity of your illness and mask even after you pass your infectious stage.”