NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. -- As cases of the COVID-19 delta variant continue to spread, Dr. Thomas Frank, with the Chickahominy Health District, is making a plea to the non-vaccinated people in his district.
“If you're unvaccinated, you need to wear your mask, to protect yourself and to protect other people more importantly," Dr. Frank said.
The Chickahominy Health District covers New Kent, Goochland, Hanover and Charles City counties.
New Kent and Charles City fall under the high COVID-19 transmission rate category, according to the CDC, Hanover and Goochland are considered substantial.
In all those counties, the CDC has recommended masks be worn in public, indoor spaces by both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
With 56 percent of adults in New Kent fully vaccinated, Dr. Frank said the county was "headed in the right direction."
He said the health district was looking at ways to increase those numbers.
“We have developed what we call strike teams, vaccination strike teams, and these folks will go out to the community where they're most needed," Dr. Frank said. "And they will just go out and campaign and vaccinate one person at a time, five people at a time 20 people at a time, whatever it takes.”
He added that in the end, it’ll come down to more people getting vaccinated in order to return to some normalcy.
“For people who are not vaccinated, this is extremely serious. This is a matter of life and death," Dr. Frank said. “Really, the only way we're going to get out of this pandemic is if the vast majority of Americans get vaccinated. And that's just the bottom line.”
The health district will be hosting two walk-up vaccination clinics, that will be free and for ages 12 and up.
July 31, 2021: Brown Grove Baptist Church (9328 Ashcake Rd in Ashland) from 9 a.m.- 1 p.m.
August 3, 2021: Charles City National Night Out (5201 Harrison Park, Rd in Charles City) from 5 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.