The Board met Sunday, Nov 12th meeting and updated our COVID policy. Procedures will be reviewed again at their upcoming meetings and as needed.

• Masks are optional for Sunday service, coffee hour, potluck, programs, and meetings.
• Those who don’t feel well are encouraged to mask, join us on Zoom, or stay at home and rest.
• For the common good, respect those who request folks to mask.

Anyone contracting COVID, the Flu or RSV will notify the President immediately and the President will disseminate that information to every member. The person(s) notifying the President will not be named. President@uufranklin.org

For additional information on COVID, please visit the North Carolina COVID-19 Response website.

COVID Status as of Nov. 6th, 2024

By Dr. Penny Brewster – As stated in the prior report, the first thing to know about Covid status is that it has become more difficult to know it. Much more testing is being done with home tests, which are not reported, rather than PCR tests. But we do still have some sources of information.

Wastewater: One is wastewater testing. Some wastewater plants are testing wastewater for evidence of Covid; some are not. Our plant here in Franklin does not. But the plant in Sylva does, and it had reported previously that 60-79.9% of samples collected contained evidence of Covid. That number had dropped to 20-39.9%, but has now increased 40-59%. Jackson/Swain numbers are the same at 40-59%. These indicate that Covid is circulating in increasing numbers.

Hospitalizations: Some of the data that were available at the time of the previous report are no longer available. The CDC web site indicates that, nationwide, Covid represents 2.4% of hospitalizations and 1.1% of deaths.

Mutations: As a reminder, the more people the virus infects, the more opportunities it has to mutate in ways that might serve its purposes better: to infect as many people as possible. This is because it cannot reproduce without our help.

Current Variants: The current dominant Covid variant is KP.3.1.1 (57% of cases). The original Omicron variant is gone. The newer variant “family” is better able to evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination. The most current vaccines (see below) provide good coverage for the general KP (FLiRT) virus lineage.

Vaccines: The most current vaccines do not specifically target the variant mentioned above, but they do provide better coverage than the older Covid vaccines, since they cover the FLiRT lineage in general. So getting the current vaccine is important, as earlier vaccines will be less effective and the new ones will better protect against hospitalization and death.

The future: Research is being done on nasal Covid vaccines, and these are already available in some other countries. The advantage of a nasal Covid vaccine (in addition to avoiding a jab in the arm) is that it works through a different part of the immune system, through the mucus membranes in the nose. Vaccine by injection works deeper inside the body. By attacking the invading virus where it enters the body the nasal vaccine may be able to prevent infection and transmission of Covid, rather than only reducing the risk of hospitalization or death as is the case with the current vaccines. So mask when in indoor spaces, and get the latest Covid vaccine. Don’t forget about flu and RSV – get those vaccines also. RSV used to occur almost entirely in children, but that is no longer the case, and there are RSV vaccines available now for – people over the age of 60.