Missouri ranks at the top among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Last week, Linn and Livingston counties in northern Missouri led the U.S. in the largest number of newest cases per capita in seven days. Now, parts of southwest Missouri are seeing an increase in COVID cases and hospitalizations, and those numbers are expected to rise if more people don’t get vaccinated.

“This is troubling,” Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) Communications Director Dave Dillon said. “You look at the places we’re seeing spikes, they’re also places that have low rates of vaccination.” A big reason for an increase in cases in northern and southwest Missouri are the COVID variants from India and the U.K. “What we found that was predominate in northern Missouri has been referred to as the India Variant which is also highly contagious and will take root here, so we could see an increase in hospitalizations and increased infections as a result. In southwest Missouri, the number of COVID-related deaths is also on the rise."

Although a choice of 3 different vaccine is easily available throughout the state to anyone over 12 years old, more & more people are choosing not to get vaccinated.

The state dashboard now says new COVID cases are up more than 30% over the past seven days. Although 43% of the over all state residents have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, almost 57% of the state is either reluctant (or just totally refuse) to be vaccinated.

The county where we live has a vaccination rate of only 27% of even one dose. However, that low percentage isn’t as bad as some other counties in the state. More than one county has a vaccination rate as low as 16.6 percent. That low figure is expected to remain low. Officials say: “Everyone, in the low vaccination counties, who wanted the vaccine has already been vaccinated.”

To improve vaccination rates in the state (and to help lower the risk of another COVID wave with major hospitalizations & deaths), there is now an enormous task of overcoming individual reluctance. Top state health officials say: “There is still a lot of fear in many communities about the effect of the vaccine. There are still some who think there is a tracking device in the vaccine.”

“President Biden's goal of getting at least one vaccine dose into 70 percent of adults by July 4 is at risk. Nationwide, vaccinations have declined by more than two-thirds from its peak of 3.4 million doses in April, with the slowdown particularly apparent in the South and the Midwest, according to a Washington Post analysis. Groups of health-care workers and volunteers outnumber vaccine seekers at many immunization sites across the country. Former president Donald Trump and his Republican allies are trying with renewed energy to villainize top federal infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci. Many Americans are people are “philosophically opposed” to getting the shots.”

Interestingly, “51% of overall Americans (who have said they do NOT plan to ever get vaccinated) also said they had NOT worn a mask in the last seven days, according to the latest Gallup poll. This was the first such poll since the CDC revised masking guidelines for vaccinated Americans.

This same Gallup same poll found that: 90% of fully vaccinated people said that they had worn a mask in the last seven days.

Based on how many people are unvaccinated in the area where we live – plus variants a possible threat to even the fully vaccinated – I plan to continue to mask up (even once fully vaccinated) when out and about with strangers who I have no idea of what their vaccination status may be. At the moment, odds are 75% of those strangers in our area won’t be vaccinated and thus be easy hosts for COVID.

The most recent CDC guidelines state that people - who are vaccinated - are able to go maskless in most settings, including indoor gatherings among other maskless people. However, the non vaccinated are now also following the same guidelines as the vaccinated. In the real world, the non vaccinated are more likely to go maskless than the fully vaccinated. This could lead to a danger of another wave of severe COVID in the Fall. Although life in America seems to be slowly returning to what many think of as "the old normal", COVID still exists (plus is still taking lives) in the USA. Case numbers are also starting to rise again - not fall - in some areas. Vaccination is the key to really being able to truly return to "the old normal". Unfortunately, so many still refuse to accept this fact.

Correction: Only the Pfizer vaccine is currently approved for adolescents. However, the vaccine is available for anyone who wants to be vaccination. There are no shortages. American adults also have their choice of Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. Many vaccination places will have all 3 vaccines available or at least two of them. All someone has to do is chose which one they prefer & then get vaccinated.

Vaccination saves lives and prevents suffering.