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Rauber Hill Sunrise, by Mel Hunt

Jones Memorial Hospital Letter to Community

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Covid hospitalizations continue in Wellsville, Dr. Ahmed Addresses Covid-19 Myths

With 30-40-percent of the inpatient population at Jones Memorial Hospital being treated for COVID and the prediction that the rate of COVID cases in Allegany County will continue to double every 1-2 weeks, Jones Memorial Hospital and the Allegany County Health Department are asking everyone to get vaccinated.

“Allegany County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in New York State and one of the fastest rates of infection increase,” said Tyler Shaw, Director, Allegany County Health Department. “The reasons are simple and easily addressed: Low vaccination rates combined with decreased social distancing and masking means that more people are getting sick and our communities are more vulnerable.”

The low COVID vaccination rate, according to Dr. Kevin McCormick, Medical Director at Jones Memorial Hospital, can be traced to the false and misleading information that has made people unnecessarily anxious about it. “This is a very safe and highly effective protection against the COVID virus,” he said, adding that the percentage of inpatients being treated for COVID is an unprecedented statistic one-third of the total inpatients at Jones Memorial are being treated for the same illness.”

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, the nurses and providers at Jones Memorial have been caring for COVID patients. “Treatments at Jones have included all advances in COVID treatment including the use of antiviral medication remdesivir,” Dr. McCormick said, noting that infectious disease consultations with Intensive Care specialists at UR Medicine are available 24/7. Another promising treatment is Monoclonal Ab, but availability is limited nationwide. “The Jones team will explore what is available for use on those most vulnerable to serious illness,” he added.

Those who are vaccinated are less likely to get the virus and if they do, they are less likely to be hospitalized. “We are dealing with one of the fastest increase rates of COVID cases in the state,” said Dr. McCormick. “The large unvaccinated population in this community jeopardizes the health of everyone as the number of inpatients begins to exceed the number of healthy health care workers.” Vaccinated healthcare workers are unlikely to get seriously ill, but exposure to sick community members takes them out of work and reduces the hospital’s capacity to care for all patients.

Please support the nurses and staff at Jones by getting vaccinated. For a list of Myths and Facts about the COVID vaccine, please use this link on the Jones Memorial Hospital website:

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/jones-memorial/about-us/images/COVIDMythsandFacts.pdf.

Support your community hospital: get vaccinated.

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