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From YouTube: COVID-19 Conversation with Dr. Alexander Samuel
Description
Chesterfield County Public Information Officer J. Elias O'Neal sits down with Dr. Alexander Samuel, Director of the Chesterfield Health District, to discuss the Omicron BA.2 variant, who is eligible to receive a second booster shot and precautions to stay safe.
A
Hi,
I'm
jay
elias
o'neill,
the
public
information
officer
for
chesterfield
county
government,
I'm
joined
by
dr
alexander
samuel.
He
is
the
health
director
for
the
chesterfield
health
district
here
in
chesterfield
county,
dr
alexander
samuel.
Welcome.
Thank
you
jane
glad
to
be
here
absolutely
absolutely
so.
Let's
go
ahead
and
get
into
all
the
things
we
know
you're
here
to
talk
about
covet
19,
give
us
an
update
here
in
chesterfield
county
lots
of
changes.
Obviously,
since
we
last
spoke
booster
second
shots
for
boosters
and
also
some
changes
to
the
data
input
on
the
vdh
website.
B
Yeah
right
yeah,
so
there's
been
a
lot
of
updates
based
on
more
research,
that's
available
on
the
effectiveness
of
vaccines
and
the
need
to
get
a
booster,
as
your
immunity
decreases
over
time.
We're
finding
that's
the
case
so
right
now
there
are
a
couple
of
new
variants
that
are
circulating
the
main
one
that
we're
keeping
our
eye
on
is
a
sub-variant
of
the
omicron
virus
that
came
through
over
the
holidays
and
resulted
in
a
lot
of
infections.
So
the
the
official.
A
B
Of
this
variant
is
the
omicron
ba2
variant
and
health
officials
are
looking
ahead
to
the
potential
for
that
to
create
an
additional
rise.
So
there
is
a
recommendation
for
individuals
who
fit
into
certain
groups
to
get
a
second
booster
shot,
and
I
know
this
can
be
confusing.
There's
boosters,
there's
second
boosters.
There's
this
term
fully
vaccinated,
but
basically
an
individual
who
has
received
their
first
and
second
dose
of
a
vaccine
is
considered
fully
vaccinated.
B
Then
there's
the
additional
booster
that's
been
recommended
for
most
age
groups,
so
everyone
over
the
age
of
12
is
recommended
to
get
a
booster,
the
first
booster,
and
then
there
are
based
on
additional
evidence.
That's
come
out.
A
few
groups
who've
been
recommended
to
get
a
second
booster
dose,
and
so
this
includes
individuals
who
are
over
the
age
of
50..
So
anyone
over
the
age
of
50
50,
the
cdc,
is
recommending
a
booster,
for
it
also
includes
individuals
who
are
12
years
old
and
older,
who
are
either
moderately
or
severely
immunocompromised.
B
That
means
their
immune
system
simply
can't
maintain
its
level
of
strength
or
potency.
A
number
of
different
conditions
can
cause
that,
like
cancer,
cancer,
chemotherapy
and
the
final
group
are
individuals
who
are
18
to
64,
who
received
the
jnj
vaccine
as
their
first
dose,
their
second
dose
and
or
they
got
another
vaccine
for
their
second
dose.
So
having
jnj
as
your
first
dose
now
qualifies
you
to
get
a
second
booster
vaccine
and
that's
typically,
either
the
moderna
or
the
visor
vaccine
for
for
individuals
who
receive
jnj.
So
that's
a
lot.
A
B
Yes,
absolutely
good
question
jay!
Yes
right
now:
it's
pharmacies,
doctors,
offices,
urgent,
cares
typically
a
good
idea
to
call
ahead
first
to
see
if
they're
carrying
it,
but
most
places
are
what's
different
now
compared
to
earlier
in
the
vaccine.
Rollout
is
there
no
longer
those
large-scale
vaccination
centers
available
as
they
were,
and
that's
simply
because
demand
for
vaccine
has
decreased
to
the
point
where
the
other
venues
that
I
just
mentioned
are
are
those
that
are
carrying
the
weight
of
the
vaccine.
A
Need
absolutely
so,
let's
shift
gears
a
little
bit.
We've
talked
about
second
boosters,
who
qualifies
for
the
second
boosters
things
of
that
nature.
Now,
let's
talk
about
kind
of
how
the
reporting
has
changed
on
the
bdh
website
in
regards
to
localities
and
copen19
sure
there
have
been
some
changes.
Obviously,
can
you
give
us
an
idea
of
what
some
of
those
changes
are
and
what
prompted
those
changes
to
begin
with
and
when.
B
Yeah,
well,
I
know
a
lot
of
folks
were
tracking
data
that
was
available
on
the
vdh
website,
and
this
was
data
that
could
that
was
basically
looking
at
case
numbers,
community
transmission,
metrics
vaccination
status,
etc.
At
the
locality
level,
all
of
that
changed
on
march
15th
when
the
decision
at
the
state
level
was
made
to
no
longer
provide
transmission
related
metrics
at
the
locality
level
or
case
number
data
at
the
locality
level.
B
My
understanding
is
most
of
this
is
simply
to
have
consistency
with
what's
being
offered
at
a
national
level,
so
that
information
can
be
found
through
the
cdc
website,
which
is
offering
weekly
updates
of
locality-specific
data.
So
you
can
search
by
state
as
well
as
by
county,
to
find
that
information
now
on
the
cdc
website.
Great.
A
B
B
Based
on
where
you
work.
For
example,
you
know
your
proximity
to
the
public
and
so
forth,
and
then
for
each
of
those
other
levels,
medium
and
high.
They
pretty
much
ramp
up
the
thoughts
about
additional
barriers
or
layers
of
protection
wearing
a
mask
social
distancing,
increased
ventilation
in
buildings
and
so
forth
again,
based
on
community
level
of
a
virus.
Excellent
excellent.