Delta variant not yet seen in Cape Girardeau County

The director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center said Tuesday there has not been an identification of the delta COVID-19 variant reported to local officials.

Jane Wernsman, PHC director, nevertheless calls on citizens to heighten their awareness of the variant.

“(The variant) is in Missouri (and) we know folks are traveling and going from one location to another,” she said.

The Associated Press reported this week the Show Me State leads the U.S. with the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections in part because of delta, considered more infectious and potentially more deadly than other variants, but also because of the lag in new people being inoculated from the coronavirus.

The latest data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services show new COVID-19 case counts remain low locally.

Cape Girardeau County, as of Tuesday, showed 11 new cases in the past seven days.

Scott and Perry counties reported two and zero new cases in the past week, respectively.

“The information we’ve been provided shows the increase in the delta variant to be primarily in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the state,” Wernsman said.

Autumn Grim, interim assistant director of Cape Girardeau County’s PHC and an epidemiologist, said the focus locally remains on “decreasing barriers” rather than offering financial incentives to encourage vaccination, as has been evidenced in other parts of the nation.

“When you talk about incentives, you have to be very careful,” Grim said. “We want to assist people with transportation in order to make it easier to get to a clinic.”

Wernsman said another potential way to hike the vaccination rate may be to offer vaccination at alternate locations in different parts of the county.

New clinic

A vaccine clinic will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon today at Terry W. Kitchen Junior High School, said Kristin Tallent, communications director for the Cape Girardeau School District.

Tallent said it is a second dose Pfizer clinic for those 12 years of age and older with adults welcomed. A first dose is also available, she said, for those who need it.