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Description
Chesterfield County, Virginia Public Information Officer J. Elias O'Neal sits down with Dr. Alexander Samuel, Director of the Chesterfield Health District to discuss the Omicron variant and precautions to stay safe.
A
A
B
Yeah
well,
we
saw
a
rapid
increase
in
cases
jay
right
about
christmas
time
through
pretty
much
a
peak
about
two
weeks
ago,
where
omicron
was
causing
two
to
three
times
the
number
of
new
cases
per
day
compared
to
the
highest
number
of
cases
we
saw
about
a
year
ago.
So
omicron
really
really
caused
a
lot
of
infection,
but
it
was
a
variant
with
a
kind
of
different
flavor
to
it.
It
didn't
cause
as
much
severe
disease.
B
A
B
Yeah
well,
the
main
thing
is
not
to
let
down
our
guard.
I
mean
the
good
news:
is
cases
are
decreasing,
but
you
know
that
can
change
if
we
completely
resume
life
in
a
manner
that
removes
all
the
practices
that
we
have
in
place
that
can
combat
the
virus,
so
things
that
we
should
continue
to
do
include
getting
vaccinated
or
a
booster
if
you're
eligible
continue
to
wearing
to
wear
a
mask
in
indoor
public
places
to
gather
outside
if
you're
planning
a
gathering.
A
Excellent,
so
that's
a
really
good
segue
into
this
next
question.
Obviously,
with
this
subsequent
rise
and
obviously
we're
seeing
those
cases
decline,
getting
tested
or
finding
an
at-home
test
has
been
hard
even
scheduling
a
pcr
test
has
been
very
difficult.
What
is
the
health
district
doing?
To
kind
of
address
that?
Do
you
all
have
some
resources
that
you
could
talk
to
our
residents
about?
That
would
be
sure.
B
B
B
However,
they
take
a
couple
of
days
to
get
results
back
and
that
does
require
at
the
time
going
to
one
of
our
testing
facilities
getting
tested
and
then
waiting
for
your
test
results
to
come
back.
So,
in
addition
to
testing
that
the
health
district
was
offering,
the
virginia
department
of
health
had
set
up
a
number
of
different
community
testing
centers
across
the
commonwealth.
We
were
fortunate
enough
to
get
one
here
in
chesterfield
county.
B
B
Individuals
can
either
make
a
reservation
online,
an
appointment
online
to
get
tested,
or
now
they
can
simply
go
to
the
site
and
walk-in
testing
is
available
to
get
information
about
all
the
pcr
testing
that
I
just
described,
that
which
is
offered
through
the
health
district
as
well
as
at
the
community
testing
center.
A
good
resource
is
the
chesterfield
health
district
website.
A
Those
testing
kits
as
well
that's
correct,
yep,
excellent,
so
obviously,
testing
is
one
way
of
understanding
or
trying
to
navigate
this.
This
new
normal
that
we've
got
going,
but
obviously
getting
vaccinated,
is
still
clearly
the
way
out
of
this
correct
right.
What
and
where
can
people
get
a
vaccine
if
they
are
interested.
B
Sure
yeah.
Well,
there
are
numbers
of
different
resources
out
there
from
pharmacies
to
your
private
doctor
more
than
likely
to
the
community
vaccination
center,
that
is
operating
at
the
rockwood
rockwood
square
shopping
area
and
vdh.
The
vdh
website
has
a
number
of
different
ways
that
you
could
locate
a
vaccine
close
to
you,
including
all
the
ways
that
I
just
listed
vaccines.gov
through
the
federal
government,
offers
very
much
the
same
sort
of
service.
B
So
again,
as
you
mentioned,
jay
do
not
turn
down
the
opportunity
to
get
vaccinated,
don't
discount
the
opportunity
to
get
vaccinated.
It
is
the
best
way
to
protect
yourself
against
this
variant
and
we
don't
know
about
variants
to
come,
but
so
far
vaccines
have
been
the
best
defense
against
all
that
has
been
thrown
at
us
by
the
changing
tunes
that
that
covet
has
turned
out
to
turn
out
to
be.