• Masks are optional for Sunday service, coffee hour, potluck, programs, and meetings.
• Those who don’t feel well are encouraged to mask, join us on Zoom, or stay at home and rest.
• For the common good, respect those who request folks to mask.

Anyone contracting COVID, the Flu or RSV will notify the President immediately and the President will disseminate that information to every member. The person(s) notifying the President will not be named. President@uufranklin.org

For additional information on COVID-19, please visit the North Carolina Public Health website.

COVID Status as of Oct 17, 2025

By Dr. Penny Brewster – Mask when in indoor spaces and get the latest Covid vaccine.  Don’t forget about flu and RSV – get those vaccines also.  RSV used to occur almost entirely in children, but that is no longer the case, and there are RSV vaccines available now for older people.  The RSV vaccine is a one-time dose, unlike Covid and flu vaccines. (details below)

COVID Status as of October 17, 2025

• Wastewater: One is wastewater testing.  Some wastewater plants are testing wastewater for evidence of Covid; some are not.  Our plant here in Franklin does not.  But the plant in Sylva does, and September 2025 statistics show “very high” levels of Covid.  This information is available is on the CDC website.
• Hospitalizations: Some of the data that were available previously are no longer available.  The CDC web site indicates that, nationwide, Covid represents 1.2% of hospitalizations and 0.8% of deaths, as of late September 2025.
• Mutations: As a reminder, the more people the virus infects, the more opportunities it has to mutate in ways that might serve its purposes better: to infect as many people as possible.  This is because it cannot reproduce without our help.
• Current Variants: The current dominant Covid variant is XFG, also known as Stratus.  The original Omicron variant is gone.  The newer variant “family” is better able to evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination.  The most current vaccines (see below) provide good coverage for that general lineage, but not Stratus specifically.
• Vaccines: The most current vaccines do not specifically target the variant mentioned above, but they do provide better coverage than the older Covid vaccines.  So getting the current vaccine is important, as earlier vaccines will be less effective and the new ones will better protect against hospitalization and death.
• The Future: Research is being done on nasal Covid vaccines, and these are already available in some other countries.  The advantage of a nasal Covid vaccine (in addition to avoiding a jab in the arm) is that it works through a different part of the immune system, through the mucus membranes in the nose. Vaccine by injection works deeper inside the body.  By attacking the invading virus where it enters the body the nasal vaccine may be able to prevent infection and transmission of Covid, rather than only reducing the risk of hospitalization or death as is the case with the current vaccines.