Executive Editor

There are two dynamics happening in Calhoun County related to COVID-19 disease now that only 43-percent of the 134,000 population is fully vaccinated: The virus is still spreading among the unprotected while only a tiny percentage of the protected is getting sick.

That’s according to Calhoun County Public Health Officer Eric Pessell who said that in fact, no one who has died or hospitalized since the vaccinations were released last Spring was fully vaccinated.

“Even the people who have been hospitalized have not been vaccinated,” said Pessell, who, while celebrating the all-time low 1.4-percent seven day average infection rate is also worried about an autumn spike among the unmasked and unvaccinated.

“I would like to say, and this is important,” he continued. “I get updates daily from our hospitals if they have any new admittance since the previous day and I got an update today (Wednesday, July 14) from one of our hospitals where they had a new admittance and it was somebody over the age of 80.

“And, I just thought to myself,” added Pessell, “‘how can we be over 80 and not have been vaccinated?’ That’s sad, because it’s 100 percent preventable.”

He said in no uncertain terms that the patient would not be in the hospital if the patient had been vaccinated.

“That’s what we’re talking about,” said Pessell. “That’s the reality. The ones who are going to go to the hospital are the ones who are not vaccinated.”

The lowest county infection rate prior to the 1.4 percent seven day average, said Pessell, occurred last July (2020) when it dipped to 1.8 percent prior to the release of the Pfizer, Modern and Johnson and Johnson vaccinates thanks to Federal Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations.

“Last summer, after we started to open back up, like the restaurants were sometime in June around that time frame and what we started to see and what kind of fueled Calhoun County was, we had a couple large outbreaks at the end of the summer related to weddings,” said Pessell. “Very large weddings. We had a wedding where we had I think 50 people who attended the wedding became positive but that 50 led to I want to say 250 or 350 people becoming positive because that 50 then came into contact with other people and made them sick.”

Many people who attended may have been infected without knowing it, he said.

“There’s that time period before you know that you’re contagious and some of them were household contacts and things like that,” he said, “so there were people who never even attended the wedding who got sick from the wedding because they came in contact with someone that attended the wedding.

“That kind of seeded the end of summer and like I said in November,” he said, “we just skyrocketed.”

This summer, however, infections are low not only due to people not being in large, indoor crowds for the most part, he said, but also because most of their activities are outdoors.

As of 9:24 a.m. on Tuesday, July 20, Calhoun County had a cumulative total of 12,513 cases, up 38 cases from 12,475 on Thursday, July 15, with a total of 300 deaths attributed to the virus on both days, (no new deaths since July 15) according to the county website. 

As of Tuesday, July 20, four people were hospitalized.

The information is updated once daily, Monday through Friday, at www.calhouncountymi.gov.

“I think it’s important for everybody to know, and I’m not trying to scare people or whatever,” said Pessell, “the importance here is, this is the same pattern we saw last year and you’ve seen that now. COVID hasn’t gone away. Right now, it’s just not prevalent in our community just as it wasn’t prevalent last July.

“This fall,” he continued, “I don’t know. I am concerned about this fall and those folks who have not protected themselves or those kids who haven’t been able to get protected yet.”

That’ becasue the Delta variant appears to be affecting children much younger, he said. 

“I saw a report today, in the state of Mississippi, they have 10 children under age 12 in ICU,” said Pessell. “That’s not something we’ve seen here. We’ve had some children in the hospital but not like that. But it’s a concern.”

Pessell worries that people think the virus doesn’t affect children.

“I think that people that think that COVID is going to act like it did in April, May and June of 2020, or in Sept. of 2020, where they say, ‘well, it doesn’t affect kids’,” said Pessell. “How many times have you heard that? With what’s being passed around now with the different variants, I don’t know if that’s a factual statement anymore.”

While area school superintendents have suspended their weekly meetings with Pessell, they are set to resume this week, he said, to begin planning for the start of school next month.

“I would just like to see the schools have a plan that takes into account the current situation where we have very little transmission and then what are they going to do if they start to see a spike in the fall?” he said. “And, what will they require, not require, if they start to see higher community transmission again, like greater than 10 percent, things like that.

“I think if we address that now and put it in a plan, I think that makes the most sense.”

Masking, social distancing, handwashing and vaccinations together are the best way to suppress the virus, said Pessell, who referred to a stark example given by Kalamazoo and Calhoun Counties Public Health Director, Dr. William Nettleton.

“When you look at the state recommendations, the CDC recommendations, they really talked about mitigation strategies and you know a much bigger picture like, I think the state uses something that Dr. Nettleton began, I wish he would have patented it,” said Pessell. “He calls it ‘layers of Swiss cheese.’ Think about the protection is like Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese has holes in it, right? But if you do four slices of Swiss cheese on each other, those holes can be covered.

“And so, there’s no single mitigation strategy that is a silver bullet other than getting your vaccination,” added Pessell. “But, all of these other things can reduce the risk of transmission if you do them.”

In Calhoun County, “vaccine ambassadors” are playing a role in the effort to increase the number of those who have received protection against COVID-19. 

“The COVID-19 vaccine ambassadors are in Battle Creek and Albion speaking with residents in Calhoun County about their vaccine questions and concerns,” according to a county press release. “With the efforts of the ambassadors, the Public Health Department hopes this will increase our current rate of COVID-19 vaccination in Calhoun County.”

Currently, the vaccine rate of individuals who have full vaccination in Calhoun is 49.6 percent, but the goal is to reach 70 percent “to truly feel confident that we have the spread of the vaccine under control.” 

The State vaccine dashboard shows that as of July 14, 2021, 104,445 doses have been administered to Calhoun County residents, from various sources, not just the Public Health Department, according to a press release.

In Calhoun County, total shots administered by the Public Health Department as of July 12 are, 21,042 first dose and 18,979 second dose shots. 

Between July 4-12, the Public Health Department administered 29 vaccine doses. 

“Our first dose totals include all who are vaccinated by CCPHD with one dose of any vaccine: Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson,” the press released conveyed.

Recently, a new vaccine clinic location was added to the Public Health Department's ongoing schedule of vaccine clinics. 

The CCPHD ended the vaccine clinic at 820 Mann Rd in Marshall and moved it to 225 E Watson St. in Albion. 

This replaces the recurring every third Wednesday from 3-6 p.m., and the change supports efforts by the Population Health Alliance and Albion Health Care Alliance as they begin door-to-door canvassing in Albion.

CCPHD clinic times and locations:

• Thursday, July 22, 3:00p - 6:00p, Kellogg Community College, 450 North Ave, Battle Creek. Pfizer vaccine, 12 years and older, J&J vaccine for 18 years and older upon request. No appointment necessary. 

• Wednesday, July 27, 3:00p - 6:00p, Northwestern Middle School, 176 Limit St, Battle Creek, MI 49037. Pfizer vaccine, 12 years and older, J&J vaccine for 18 years and older upon request. No appointment necessary. Second dose return date August 17.

COVID-19 vaccine is also available by appointment only at both Public Health Department clinic locations:

• Toeller Building, 190 E Michigan Ave, Battle Creek, (269) 969-6363

• Albion Health Department, 214 E Michigan Ave, Albion, 517-629-9434

Both clinics are open Monday - Thursday 7 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1-4:30 p.m., as well as Fridays 8 a.m.-Noon. (“Please call the appropriate office to set up an appoint,” the press release conveyed.)

The public can keep up with Calhoun County vaccine efforts at

calhouncountymi.gov/covidvaccine

The State of Michigan launched the ‘MI Shot To Win’ Sweepstakes that gives vaccinated Michiganders a chance to win $5 million in cash, as well as a combined total of $500,000 in college scholarships. 

Residents age 18 and older who have received one dose of vaccine are eligible to register for a combined total of $5 million in cash giveaways and can do so at www.MIShotToWin.com.

In addition, Michigan’s vaccine sweepstakes will offer the opportunity to win one of nine Scholarship Drawing prizes available to vaccinated Michiganders between ages 12-17 whose parents enter on their behalf. 

The sweepstakes ends on Aug. 3, 2021. 

Eligibility criteria and how to enter the drawings is at the MI Shot to Win website.

As of July 14, the only age groups to reach that 70-percent vaccination goal are those who are 75 and older (70-percent) and those who are 65-70 (75-percent.)

The percentages of vaccinations in the other age groups are far below the overall 70 percent goal which Pessell said would not only suppress the virus but provide herd immunity:

• 50-64 – 55.6 percent

• 40-49 – 42.9 percent

• 30-39 – 35.6 percent

• 20-29 – 25.5 percent

• 16-19 – 26.2 percent

• 12-15 – 17.3 percent

“You can see the working age of Calhoun County residents, 20 to 49 years old is well below the state which I think the state’s is 62 percent now,” said Pessell.

That’s why he is worried about people going back indoors, person-to-person.

And, so far, the MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes announcement has not boosted vaccination uptake locally.

“As of today, things look good but they looked very similar last summer,” he said of the pandemic’s current affect on the county residents. “The question is about the first week of September. We started to see numbers go up significantly (last year) and by mid November, we had the largest spike we’ve had in Calhoun since this started.

“And, if we’ve only vaccinated less than 50 percent of our population,” he continued, “there’s a lot of folks out there that are not protected right now.”

Pessell said he understands that everyone is tired of the pandemic but as the county’s public health officer, he, too, would like to see a community effort to get it under control.

“I get it. Everybody is getting tired of the mandates, tired of this and that and, I said, what I’m getting tired of is getting notifications of people dying,” he said, “especially now, when it’s 100 percent preventable. I’m getting tired of that.”