 Following the recent announcement of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the Pike County Health Department wants to remind those that seeking vaccination is the best step we can take against the virus. In response, Health Director Tammy Riley spoke with Mountain Top about case numbers and about what they know regarding the new Omicron variant. The bottom line is in Pike County we have a 55% vaccination rate compared to a 60% in the state of Kentucky. We need that number higher or inevitably these variants are going to get here and they're going to spread. And we could very well end up back to square one where vaccinated individuals would no longer be protected. I mean that's the worst case scenario but it's definitely a possibility. So what we want is to see our community, our state and our world reach herd immunity. If you really put it into perspective like today in Pike County we have 11,207 total cases. One year ago we had 1,942. Today we have over 200,205 confirmed deaths due to COVID. One year ago there was 22. So to put that into perspective that's just an incredible amount of growth. And what happened in the winter we saw the Delta variant come through and our numbers escalated very quickly. So we don't know what's going to happen with this variant. Experts inevitably say that it's going to be here. It's coming and we are likely going to see the impact of it. Here at Pikeville Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Institute we have assembled a comprehensive team of cardiac specialists bringing expertise from all regions of the nation and the world. We have coupled that with cutting edge technology providing them the best equipment and operating rooms available. The result is comprehensive cardiac care for the people of our region that is second to none. The Heart and Vascular Institute at Pikeville Medical Center. And while recent research suggests that current vaccinations are still effective against the Omicron variant Riley says that now is the best time to get vaccinated and or get a booster. So we need individuals who've been longer than six months fully vaccinated to get their booster. If you haven't been vaccinated you know there's no better time than today to get here to the Pike County Health Department or other vaccine providers and seek out COVID-19 vaccination you know before we see another variant you know hit our community. For questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine or if you would like to get vaccinated you can contact the Pike County Health Department at 606-437-5500. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Korgel.