According to Public Health’s COVID-19 data dashboard, Mesa County hospital beds are 93.6% occupied, with 70 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 50 of whom are Mesa County residents. Per the dashboard, 85% of COVID patients hospitalized in the last two weeks were unvaccinated.

We’ve already seen what a new highly transmissible variant looks like in Mesa County. Delta got its foothold in this country right here, and deaths here in November this year compared to November 2020 – before the vaccines were available. We don’t need to wait for omicron, or any other new variant, to take this pandemic seriously.

What we desperately need is a way to address the misinformation polluting the brains of those unwilling to get a vaccination. This newspaper regularly receives – and refuses to print – letters advancing patently false information about deaths caused by vaccines, unproven therapies and wild conspiracy theories about masks and other horse-hockey. It has been nearly a year since the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the United States – over 300,000,000 doses in this country alone. Its record is unparalleled for safety and effectiveness.

We know everyone is tired of this pandemic and the news of a new concerning variant is the last thing any of us want to hear about. The way we end this and stop these variants is ultimately through getting vaccinated.