 After months of ease from COVID-19 cases are again beginning to trend upward in Pike County. Monday Mountain Top spoke with Health Director Tammy Riley about the new trend and how to protect yourself following the latest increase. Well we've seen in the last few weeks an uptick in numbers in new cases. Last week for example, Pike County went from green to yellow on the CDC's community level recommendations, so we've been watching that and this past Friday we moved from yellow to the orange or many are referring to the red zone or level of recommendations per the CDC. With 141 confirmed cases in Pike County, CDC guidelines recommend that individuals wear masks while indoors or in a compact space. Riley also mentions that even as COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise, hospitals aren't becoming overwhelmed. So while we do have 141 active cases, we saw 101 cases in the last seven days as they're just raw numbers that's not based on you know 100,000 population. So we are seeing this slide uptick but relatively speaking those we've had much higher numbers in the past and we're not seeing a heavy burden on our health care system. We did have an outbreak however in a medical skilled nursing facility and that likely pushed their numbers up just high enough that the CDC saw the levels at red or orange for the current recommendations which is to wear a mask indoors. We are Pikeville Medical Center and we are an amazing place to work. Healthcare heroes of all types work here, all who deserve great rewards. So while our heroes are working hard to take care of our patients and visitors, we are taking care of them with top-tier benefits, higher pay rates and great sign-on bonuses. So join our team today. So what are you waiting for? Apply today! Incredible opportunities await at PMCjobs.org. According to the Pike County Health Department, Pike County has just under 60% vaccination. Riley mentions the importance of getting vaccinated or getting a booster. So we've really tried to spread that message is get your booster and what we know is that those who have deceased in Kentucky from COVID-19 under the age of 60, 90% were unvaccinated and you know and the numbers just overwhelmingly shows us that the vaccines work, it decreases disease severity and it saves lives. For those ages 5 to 11 and have received the primary series, boosters are recommended after 5 months. Those 50 and older and those who are 12 and older and immunocompromised are advised to receive a second booster. Boosters are not recommended for 5 to 11 years or 12 to 49 years for non-immunocompromised individuals. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Hodgell.