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COVID-19 cases rise as vaccination rates lag

Posted at 7:00 PM, Jul 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-24 19:00:00-04

(WXYZ) — Coronavirus case numbers are going up.

The state is now reporting case counts on Tuesdays and Fridays; however, the daily average is on the rise. This has some healthcare providers concerned about what could be coming our way, especially with so many people still saying they won’t get a vaccine.

"Nope, not, I can make my own decisions, I’m not going to get vaccinated," said Carrington Alexander, who was absolutely against getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I’m young, I’m healthy I have no serious, no conditions at all really. So, I feet, in other words, no point of being vaccinated if I was okay without it,” Alexander said.

She recently changed her mind and got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. She says she did it for two reasons, one because she wanted to protect herself and her family, the other because of incentives

“A million dollars just to get the vaccine. I was like you know what I could do with a million dollars right now,” she said. “If there are others who haven’t been vaccinated yet, I can be more comfortable with myself and with others who have been vaccinated I’m more comfortable for them.”

According to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, only 50 percent of fully vaccinated people who are immunocompromised showed an antibody response.

Health officials say the delta variant is coming on strong. It’s the dominant strain in the US and we could be in for dark days ahead

“Every time there’s a transmission, it’s faster, it’s faster, it’s faster. So, the next variants may be faster or they may be able to infect, the population that can’t be infected now like vaccinated people,” said Dr. Mathew Sims, infectious disease specialist with Beaumont Health.

Still, some are against getting the vaccine. Several viewers writing on the channel 7 Facebook page saying, “I’m never going to submit myself, to any of the unapproved, untested genetic experiments.”

Another writing “sorry I will never get vaccinated! I have an immune system and it does it’s job”

Health officials say this could become a pandemic for the unvaccinated

“That’s concerning. I mean it means more people are getting infected which means there’s probably more delta,” says Sims.” So if we get enough of a change to the spike where those antibodies that are made by the vaccine don’t affect it, that’s going to be a big problem.”

Carrington says she was against the vaccine but now has this message for anyone on the fence

“So just tell people to become more aware of not being vaccinated, that would be my suggestion to everyone,” she says. ”Plain and simple, just get vaccinated.”

Again at the end of the day, health officials say the best way for all of us to avoid spreading the virus and creating new mutations is to get vaccinated.

Additional Coronavirus information and resources:

View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.

See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.

Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.