Fort Bend County Judge KP George and leaders from the County Health Department and Office of Emergency Management Friday announced efforts being made in the County in response to the uptick in COVID-19 cases amongst unvaccinated residents and the highly contagious Delta variant.

Fort Bend County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Jacqueline Minter reported that the first confirmed case of the highly-contagious Delta variant appeared in Fort Bend County one month ago with the vast majority of the severe illnesses having been from unvaccinated people.

“We have been able to verify the Delta variants increase in viral activity, in test positivity, in cases, and hospitalizations, including ICU,” stated Dr. Minter. Of those cases reported to the Fort Bend County Health Department, 77% were of the Delta lineage.”

Currently, Fort Bend County COVID-19 risk level remains at yellow, the “Low/Moderate” risk category. However, County officials urge residents who have vaccine hesitancy or have refused to take the COVID vaccine in the past to take action now to slow the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

“To not take action is putting the entire community in jeopardy,” said Judge KP George. The COVID vaccine continues to be our best bet to our way out of this pandemic, and we still have many, many in our community who are not protected by this vaccine.”

Although not mandated, Judge George is asking Fort Bend County residents to wear masks as a preventative measure while inside County facilities. J. T. Pena, Fort Bend County Risk Management Loss Control and Safety Specialist announced that signage will be posted in County owned buildings and facilities requesting that the public wear masks while indoors.

Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services’ data dashboard, shows that 96% of Fort Bend County residents 65 and older are partially vaccinated and 88% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated. However, many in the community remain unprotected.

For more information about COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites got to https://www.fbchealth.org/ncov/

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