 As the Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, Pike County health director, Tammy Riley, spoke with Mountaintop about rising cases and red zone recommendations. Yeah, the red zone recommendations from the Department of Public Health and the governor's office have been recommendations that have been out there for quite some time. They were recently updated and their red zone recommendations are for communities who have a daily incident rate of 25 or greater, and that is 25 cases per day per 100,000. Riley continues to say that the purpose of the recommendations is to normalize data per 100,000 residents, allowing them and others to compare information. They're recommendations, so I would like to talk about recommendations versus mandates. Recommendations are simply that they're suggestions, they're best practices for a community. So it's simply recommendations or suggestions for the community for some of the best practices that we could attempt so that we could lower our numbers as quickly as possible. Although the county sits below 100,000 residents, Riley continues to say that they have seen as many as 105 cases per 100,000 in a single day. Any incident over 25 would be an overwhelming burden for a local health department. So we're certainly overwhelmed and overburdened as is our healthcare system surrounding us. 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. Even as the COVID-19 virus spreads, Riley adds that they have seen an uptick in vaccinations and booster requests, a positive step for Pike County. Also, we encourage, of course, proper social distancing while in public or interacting with those outside of the community. We're also encouraging medically vulnerable or the immunocompromised to potentially avoid interactions with unvaccinated or just take extra precautions while in public. Consider postponing large public events. Following the recent FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Riley adds that those eligible should get vaccinated. They're all safe and effective and highly recommended by the medical professional community across all sectors, pediatricians, primary care, specialists, hospitalists. So we definitely have effective and safe vaccines and ample availability. For Mountaintop News, I'm Joel Chorjol.