News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The rising number of COVID cases across the Upper Cumberland is a reason for some to bring back personal precautions.
Dr. Brent Staton is the Upper Cumberland Medical Society President. He said for the last six weeks, the region has seen very few cases. Staton said a spike has recently occurred.
“The significance of this spike from a medical standpoint is this variant evades immunity,” Staton said. “So if you’ve had COVID before, you have natural immunity. Well this evades this natural immunity. If you’ve had the vaccines, this would evade the vaccine immunity. If you haven’t had a vaccine at all, you’re at a higher risk.”
Staton said the variant being called Deltacron is a combination of the Delta and Omnicron variants. Staton said based on each medical practice in the region, about 20 to 25 cases of COVID in general are reported weekly.
“I wouldn’t focus on the names of the variants as much,” Staton said. “I would just be aware that there is a new variant and that new variant can escape immunity and can be deadly. So you need to take care of your family like you did before.”
Staton said masks, social distancing, vaccines and common hygiene practices remain the best precautions. Staton said while he understand that “COVID fatigue” is real, it is not the time to forget the dangers of COVID.
“They’re getting tired, and they are letting their guard down. Whenever you cross the street…. Do you look left or right?” Staton said. “You look both ways. Well if COVID was driving down the road and you look left and you don’t look right, you’re going to get hit by it. It’s the same precautions that you would take to protect yourself from any infectious disease.”
The Upper Cumberland Medical Society covers the 14 counties of the region. It is a group of physicians that work to improve the quality of medical practices for physicians and the quality of healthcare for patients.
