WJW Fox 8 reports that Ashtabula County is one of seven counties in northeast Ohio that is among the top ten percent in the nation for COVID-19 transmission. Ashtabula County is specifically ranked as 281st out of 3,142 counties. That’s really, really high.

It isn’t as if we’re dealing with a low positivity rate on testing or anything…

Export from CDC's reporting portal showing COVID-19 test positivity from October 13th through November 13th 2022

Considering how red this county broke in not just the 2020 General Election but also the 2022 General Election the inverse correlation of the presence of COVID denialism is pretty strong. The Pandemic Vulnerability Index is still a sad site to see our county shown on.

This isn’t good but there isn’t anything I can do to fix the aggregate problem. I’m as vaccinated as I can be and take all the precautions I realistically can in this community. Unfortunate outcomes may still be in the cards for parts of my local community, I fear.