Contagious Delta COVID is in the North Country, but many still decline vaccines
Coronavirus cases are climbing again in the North Country as vaccination rates have largely stalled. That worries public health officials because...
Jul 23, 2021 — Coronavirus cases are climbing again in the North Country as vaccination rates have largely stalled. That worries public health officials because the Delta variant is here, and it’s more than twice as transmissible as the original strain of the coronavirus.
Earlier this week, I set out originally to talk to people who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 to better understand why they hadn’t gotten the shot, especially considering everything we know about the virus and now the Delta variant.
But among the more than two dozen people I talked to, only a few said they were unvaccinated. Among that group, almost no one would talk to me on tape.
One man sitting outside a grocery store told me he was not vaccinated. He was heading into work at the store and did have a mask in his hand. I met another unvaccinated man coming out of Lowe’s. He wasn’t wearing a mask, despite guidance from the CDC to do so indoors. He wouldn’t talk on tape, but said it wasn’t the government’s business that he wasn’t vaccinated.
So I started talking to people who are vaccinated. I met Gerry Kelly at the Champlain Mall. He’s 87 years old from Morrisonville, just west of Plattsburgh. He was at the mall getting exercise.
“Before the pandemic, I was here every morning. I walked every morning," Kelly explained. "Then I didn’t walk for a year.”
Now that he’s vaccinated, Kelly walks laps around the mall every morning. He still wears a mask indoors and has been watching the coronavirus infections tick up in Clinton County. While about 60% of people in the county have at least the first dose of the vaccine, about 32,000 people here are still unvaccinated. That puts Kelly on edge.
“I don’t know who’s been vaccinated, who hasn’t been vaccinated," said Kelly. "I know people here and I stop, we talk, and I just feel more comfortable with a mask.”
A few blocks from the mall, I met Debbie Zinser and David Curry. They were both about to mask up before heading into a grocery store.
“You are both vaccinated, but you have your masks in hand. Tell me why you’re masking up,” I ask them.
“The Delta variant is still circulating," said Curry, "and we’re not 100% protected just because we’re vaccinated." "We could catch it," Zinser added. "We won’t die, but we could get sick from it.”
Zinser and Curry are both retired nurses from Plattsburgh. They know how serious a respiratory illness like COVID-19 can be. Early on in the pandemic, Zinser’s sister died of the disease in Plattsburgh.
Despite COVID hitting really close to home, Zinser said her own son refuses to get vaccinated.
“He says, ‘Well it’s not really been approved. It was an emergency.’ No matter what I say, he won’t get vaccinated or his wife," said Zinser.
“And what’s more worrisome is he’s discouraging his kids," Curry added, "who are teenagers, from getting vaccinated. That’s the problem. It’s your free will, fine. You want to die? Go ahead. But don’t keep other people from doing what they think is right.”
After talking to a lot of vaccinated folks in Plattsburgh, I finally found someone who was unvaccinated and willing to talk. Eric Deyo-Pugh was coming out of a farm supply store. He told me he doesn’t get vaccinated against the flu and isn’t planning to get the COVID vaccine.
“I don’t really have a lot of faith in what’s out there," said Deyo-Pugh. "A lot of reading, a lot of people are skeptical, so I’m kind of on that bandwagon.”
Deyo-Pugh said people can choose not to be around unvaccinated people like him. But he wasn’t wearing a mask in the store, despite clear signage that unvaccinated people should wear a mask. So I asked him about that.
“I don’t really have a reason for that," said Deyo-Pugh. "Are people going around going, ‘Let me see your [vaccine] card, let me see your card?’ No. And I don’t think they should.”
There’s a lot of talk now about how to deal with the large number of people like Deyo-Pugh, unvaccinated and unwilling to follow public health guidelines. There are pockets of the North Country with a lot lower vaccination rates.
About 49% of people in Franklin County and just 42% of folks in Lewis County have at least one dose of the vaccine. Clusters of new COVID-19 cases in Warren County are largely among unvaccinated people.
I asked Deyo-Pugh if there was anyone who could convince him to get vaccinated. "What about the leading scientists in the country saying, ‘Wear a mask and then get the vaccine’? Why does that not convince you?" I ask.
“I guess I just don’t watch the news," Deyo-Pugh responded. "I’m not really affiliated with any political agenda.”
I respond by saying that Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was under Trump and now is under Biden is not with CNN, he’s just a leading doctor. He's not a political guy and he’s saying everyone should get the vaccine.
“Maybe he’s pushing something that I don’t know," Deyo-Pugh responded.
Our conversation went on like this for about 10 minutes. Deyo-Pugh kept saying he wasn’t political, doesn’t follow the news much, but also doesn’t believe the overwhelming consensus from health experts.
Deyo-Pugh said he’d only consider getting vaccinated years from now after the pandemic ran its course.
“If it was a proven deal like a polio vaccine or something, then yes I would [get the vaccine]. I need the hard evidence, though, that it’s going to solve the whole problem.”
There is hard evidence that vaccines are highly effective and that unvaccinated people are far more susceptible to COVID-19. The former head of the FDA said recently that, with the Delta variant now dominant across the US, most people with either get the vaccine or get COVID and it could be the most serious virus they've ever experience.
Nearly all of the recent COVID hospitalizations and deaths in the US are among unvaccinated people.
NOTE: Public health officials across the North Country and the nation continue to remind everyone that the science is clear. Those who are unvaccinated are highly vulnerable to COVID-19, especially to the Delta variant, and they’re much more likely to spread it to others and allow the pandemic to persist. The vaccine is safe and effective and you can find vaccination clinics in your community by contacting your county’s public health department.
