By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A local nurse is among local health professionals who say that the level of COVID transmission in Livingston County is a cause for concern and that the public needs to heed new masking recommendations.

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the COVID-19 transmission level in Livingston County from “moderate” to “substantial.” That then prompted the Livingston County Health Department to recommend that all individuals wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday issued updated recommendations for schools that include the use of masks as part of an overall strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Nancy Durance of Brighton is an RN who serves with the local Medical Reserve Corp. She has also been a Contact Tracer for the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services and worked as a COVID Vaccinator for Washtenaw County Health Department. She is currently working at the University of Michigan, where she was a hospital administrator for 12 years. Durance says the level of COVID transmission in Livingston County has increased over 94% in the last week, with the positivity rate on the rise and now almost over 6%.

Durance says she understands the public’s fatigue on this issue, but the more transmissible delta variant, combined with a vaccination rate below 50%, makes this a public health concern for everyone. “I understand that people who are vaccinated are tired of this. I’m tired of this. When I’m now in any store, I was in Meijer yesterday, I wear a mask. And that’s simply because I’m looking at the statistics right now. For Livingston County, they’re 49.2% of people who are fully vaccinated. So what that says is we should be wearing masks for 50% of the people that are going into a store. If you go into a store right now, you don’t see half the people wearing masks.”

Durance tells WHMI it is really a matter of protecting vulnerable populations, which could be someone you know and love. She says that with the level of COVID transmission in Livingston County up over 94% in the last week, and a positivity rate pushing 6%, doing whatever we can to limit the spread will make a big difference for those who are most at risk, including those with reduced immune system such as transplant patients, noting the area’s extensive organ transplant programs between the various hospital systems. “Spectrum has a large transplant program, so does Henry Ford. Beaumont has a transplant program. We are very, very privileged. So you don’t know who in your school is an asthmatic, who is a transplant (patient), who is a bone marrow (recipient). But those patients need to be protected. And you can say ‘I don’t care about them.’ I’ve heard people who’ve said ‘I don’t care about who’s insured, who is not insured’, but if they’re you’re next door neighbor, I would hope you would care about them.”

The CDC cited the much more contagious delta variant's surge in advising that vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in areas with high transmission. The change is based on new research suggesting vaccinated people who get infected can spread it to others, even if those who are vaccinated don’t themselves get seriously ill.

Durance, who has also worked an ICU nurse, says that in no way should be interpreted to mean the vaccine isn’t working, noting its overwhelming effectiveness in preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. You can hear more from Durance this Sunday morning at 8:30 on WHMI’s Viewpoint program.

Photo - AP