Oakland County Health Division: Vaccines, Masks, And Social Distancing Are Key To Getting Through Flu Season During Pandemic
Pontiac, Michigan – Oakland County Health Division advises residents to protect themselves this flu season by getting both the COVID-19 and flu vaccines. Also, precautions taken to limit the transmission of COVID-19 such as wearing masks and social distancing also substantially lower the likelihood of spreading influenza. The risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 is higher if one has the flu at the same time.
“The risk of death from COVID-19 is more than triple that of seasonal flu. In fact, your risk of death from COVID-19 more than doubles in people who have the flu,” Oakland County Health Division Medical Director Dr. Russell Faust said. “So, get vaccinated for both this flu season and take the common-sense measures that limited the number of flu cases last season.”
New cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, especially among school age and college age residents. More than two out of five new cases from Sept. 6-19 were ages 29 years and younger. One in four new cases were 18 years and younger, up from one in five last week. The seven-day case average in Oakland County was 225 new COVID-19 cases per day, or more than 1,500 new cases per week. Currently, nearly 48,000 Oakland County residents from 12-18 years old remain unvaccinated.
The Oakland County Health Division continues to hold daily COVID-19 vaccine clinics from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at both its North Oakland Health Center in Pontiac and South Oakland Health Center in Southfield in addition to pop-up clinics in the community. Click on OaklandCountyVaccine.com to locate the nearest Health Division vaccine clinic. Those who do not have access to the Internet may call the Nurse on Call at 800-848-5533 Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. for more information.
Oakland County Health Division expects to begin offering the flu vaccine sometime in October and will make an announcement when they have supply to administer. Meanwhile, the flu vaccine may be available at pharmacies and healthcare providers before then.
The following is an update on progress vaccinating Oakland County residents, according to the State of Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard as of September 21, 2021:
Total eligible residents 16 and older: 1,029,737
- Number of residents 16 and older who have received first dose: 760,805
- Number of residents 16 and older who have completed vaccination: 707,961
- Vaccine coverage for residents 16 and older: 73.9 percent
Total eligible residents 12 and older: 1,091,389
- Number of residents 12 and older who have received first dose: 794,587
- Number of residents 12 years and older who have completed vaccination: 738,246
- Vaccine coverage for residents 12 and older: 72.8 percent
Total eligible senior residents 65 and older: 217,676
- Number of senior residents who have received first dose: 189,956
- Number of senior residents who have completed vaccination: 180,878
- Vaccine coverage for senior residents: 87.3 percent
Total doses distributed within Oakland County: 1,584,645
- Total doses administered within Oakland County: 1,475,986
- Percentage of doses administered within Oakland County: 93.1%
Total third doses administered in Region 2 North (Oakland, Macomb, and St. Clair counties): 19,033