Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, sniffling and coughing some in his attic isolation, is on Day 6 of his COVID-forced retreat.
“I explained to people that it feels like I have a sinus infection. Saturday was actually my worst day. And it’s gotten better every day since then,” he said Thursday, Sept. 16.
His message from his home office: “If you’re vaccinated, you have less chance to get the virus, and even less chance of getting very ill.”
The Shelby County Health Department does not release the number of breakthrough cases here or the number of those who end up being hospitalized. The data it receives on people who test positive each day does not include their vaccination status.
“In the city, about 77% of cases are unvaccinated, but in terms of what comes to the hospital, it is 94% unvaccinated,” said Dr. Richard Walker, interim head of emergency medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
“Fatalities are well above 99% unvaccinated. The vaccine is very good at preventing hospitalization; it’s excellent at preventing fatalities,” he said.