​We hope you had a great Valentine’s Day. 

Do you have a Valentine? If you don’t, that’s okay — in fact, it might even be a good thing. You don’t need to worry as much about all the stuff that can go wrong this time of year — like an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

But because we’re Monongalia County Health Department, when it comes time to celebrate love and relationships, we like to take note of National Condom Week.

National Condom Week is observed every year starting on February 14. It’s a time to raise awareness and celebrate the way condoms have benefited reproductive and sexual health care. 

No matter your sexual preferences or practices, everyone deserves to have a healthy sex life that fits their needs and wants. Condoms can help sexually active individuals maintain control over their sex life.

First, a very brief history of the condom:

For much of human history, condoms have been around to prevent pregnancies, STIs and even insect bites during intercourse. 

They even existed as far back as 11,000 B.C.; in fact, a series of cave paintings in France depict something resembling condoms — most likely animal skin or intestine.

Fast forward to the 19th century, when the invention of rubber revolutionized the world, leading to the first rubber condoms in 1855. By 1957, the first lubricated latex condom was produced.

Now, condoms are available everywhere, from pharmacies to online shopping sites. You can even get free condoms when you visit MCHD Clinical Services. 

Why are condoms so great? Well, besides being affordable and discreet, making it easy to always be prepared. They’re very effective — when used correctly, male condoms are 98% effective at preventing pregnancy and female condoms are 95% effective. 

They are also very effective at preventing STIs like gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes and HIV.

Of course, the only sure-fire way to prevent pregnancy or STIs is to not have sex at all.

There are many different types of condoms to choose from. The most common type is a latex condom, but for people who are allergic or sensitive to latex, plastic condoms are also available, made with polyurethane polyisoprene. 

Lubricated condoms are very common, and come with a thin coating of lubrication on the condom to prevent pain or irritation during sex, as well as to keep the condom from breaking. Even if you aren’t using an already lubricated condom, it’s a good idea to use lube during sex to make it more comfortable for everyone involved.

Some condoms are sold coated with spermicide, a chemical called nonoxynol-9 that kills sperm. This kind of condom is probably manufactured to give people more peace of mind during sex, but the amount of spermicide on the condom is so small that it likely won’t make a difference and could just irritate your genitals.

If you want extra protection, you can buy a separate sperm-killing product or just abstain from sex altogether.

There are also textured condoms, which include ribs or studs designed to make sex more pleasurable. Flavored condoms also exist for this reason. Of course, pleasure is different for everybody, so textured condoms aren’t guaranteed to feel good for everybody. It’s best to talk to your partner and experiment with different options to see what feels best.

You might sometimes see novelty condoms, like glow-in-the-dark condoms, but be careful. They often aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and might be less effective in stopping pregnancy or STIs. Be sure to check the packaging to make sure.

Earlier, I mentioned that while male condoms are very effective, female condoms are also an option which are almost just as effective. 

All the above mentioned condoms are male condoms, but there is only one type of FDA-approved female condom available. It’s made of nitrile, which is a type of rubber free from latex, that comes pre-lubricated.

While a male condom is rolled onto an erect penis, a female condom is inserted into the vagina like a tampon.

Whether using a male or female condom, it is important to use both correctly in order to be effective. 

If you and your partner are sexually active, take a moment to observe National Condom Week — be prepared with a condom!

If it’s the first Friday in February and snowing (or sleeting or both), it must be Give Kids a Smile! at Monongalia County Health Department. 

However, the bad weather did not deter parents from bringing their children to MCHD Dentistry, the health department’s full service dental office, for free checkups and cleanings. In all, about 40 children without dental insurance were seen on Feb. 4 as part of this year’s Give Kids a Smile! event, and there was only one cancellation due to the snowy and icy conditions outside.

“Three kids for free, I was not missing this,” said Rose Wilson of Morgantown, who brought in her children, including Kash, 2. 

Luckily, she noted, the roads weren’t treacherous when she drove in.

Wilson learned about Give Kids a Smile! recently when she made an appointment for herself. “It’s a great program for the community,” she said.

As Kash played with a balloon and waited to sit in the dental chair for his first checkup, Wilson was optimistic that the visit would go well. The family had watched the cartoon “Bubble Guppies” on the way over in a segment where the characters were brushing their teeth.

“He likes to brush his teeth at home so hopefully it will be a good visit,” Wilson added.

MCHD Dentistry has been participating in Give Kids a Smile!, since 2011. Held during National Children’s Dental Health Month, as designated by the American Dental Association, the event provides the opportunity for kids 18 and under who don’t have dental insurance to get cleanings and checkups.

For the past few years, the weather for Give Kids a Smile! has been snowy, which sometimes has impacted attendance but also has led to a new goal of providing restorative work when possible. By lunchtime on Friday, Dr. Youseph Kassar, MCHD Dentistry’s interim program manager, had filled two cavities and performed an extraction.

“Prevention is key and is our main focus,” Dr. Kassar said. “However, we have left room in the schedule for some restorative work as needed.”

According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Untreated cavities can cause pain and infections and can lead to problems eating, speaking and learning. More than 1 in 5 children aged 2 to 5 years has at least one cavity in their baby teeth.”

Established by the ADA in 2003, Give Kids a Smile! encourages dentists to hold events around the country. Each year approximately 6,500 dentists and 30,000 dental team members volunteer at local GKAS events to provide free oral health education, screenings and preventive and restorative treatment to more than 300,000 children, according to information on the ADA’s website. 

Dr. Kassar notes that MCHD Dentistry’s staff goes out of their way to make it a fun and festive day for children. The office is decorated with colorful helium balloons tethered by tubes of toothpaste for children to take home.

In addition to the checkup and cleanings, children also learn about good oral health. “It’s important to raise awareness of the importance of oral health not only during this month but throughout the year,” Dr. Kassar said.

Also, having positive first dental visits goes a long way toward setting up a child to keep up good dental habits and visit the dentist regularly.

“We were trying to find a dentist that’s good with kids and we heard about MCHD Dentistry,” said Malia Neville, who brought in her three children: River, 9, Raelin, 4 and Ridge, 2. “We love it.”

With MCHD Dentistry’s 12th Give Kids a Smile! event nearly in the books, Dr. Kassar was happy that the weather didn’t impact the event much. 

“It’s always a great day, with a lot of appreciation expressed to the staff,” he said.

The number of people I know who have gotten COVID literally tripled — at least — in the month of January since the pandemic began in March 2020.

I am not exaggerating. If anything, I am being conservative.

I call it the COVID Class of January ‘22. I’m an alumna myself.

I started off the new year with fatigue and a positive test result, even though I’m vaccinated, boosted, masked up in public and I limit where I go.

I still don’t know where I got it and I spent some time feeling bad that I apparently had done something careless to get sick. I had managed to avoid the virus for nearly 22 months and couldn’t figure out what had changed. 

As more friends began sharing their diagnoses, it became pretty clear what the difference was. From the beginning, public health officials stated that the omicron variant is incredibly infectious, and they were very correct.

My employer, Monongalia County Health Department, recommends a 10-day isolation period for individuals who test positive. Because my husband tested negative, that meant I had to isolate in my own home, staying in one room for most of the time.

It wasn’t fun, but I absolutely didn’t want to take a chance on passing the virus on to him or anyone else. 

Looking back, and listening to the accounts of my friends, I realize how lucky I was, not only to be able to isolate for 10 days without being encouraged to return to work too soon, but also  because I was able to take advantage of free community testing conducted by MCHD at the WVU Rec Center when I realized my fatigue was off the charts. 

A relative in a different county with worse symptoms had a much more difficult time getting a test, which she could only do with a doctor’s order. It got lost in the system, leading to a delay and a long wait at the site on her part.

MCHD has been getting some pushback on its isolation guidance, as well as the advice for individuals who have been exposed to quarantine for 14 days.

But we maintain that it doesn’t make sense to advocate for fewer isolation and quarantine days now, when we’re seeing the highest seven-day rates per 100,000 of COVID cases than we have for the entire pandemic.

For instance, in early January, for the school-aged population of ages 6-17 in Monongalia County, the seven-day average per 100,000 was 78 and then reached as high as 375 about two weeks later. Anything greater than 100 per 100,000 is considered high transmission by the CDC.

As my boss, Dr. Lee B. Smith, MCHD’s medical director has said, “This is not the time to change horses midstream.”

We have added a statement about MCHD’s guidance to our website, in which Dr. Smith expands on the information that has been used to make these decisions. 

In part, it reads, “Cutting quarantine from 14 to 10 days still misses 10% of people who are delayed in becoming infectious. If our daily number of infected is 330, then on day five there are  an additional 31% infectious, which is an additional 93 individuals. And they in turn may infect many more.

“The same applies to quarantined individuals who, on any given day, are great in number, and missing 10% has huge ramifications. While some like to believe that the omicron variant is less virulent, the death rate has gone up 11% nationally and the hospitalization rate by 14%. It has now killed as many people as the delta strain in a much shorter time.”

Believe us, we understand that it’s frustrating. We’re living with COVID too. And you can bet MCHD employees will celebrate the day when our work lives aren’t consumed by testing and vaccinating and trying to convince community members to get tested and vaccinated… and boosted.
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Following MCHD’s guidance on isolating, quarantine and getting vaccinated will make that day come sooner. 

As will getting vaccinated. If you have not done so yet, please make an appointment to get vaccinated online at this link. Monongalia County Health Department also conducts COVID testing most weekdays at the WVU Rec Center. Consider getting tested five days following participating in a large event or prior to gathering with friends and family, not only if you have symptoms or a known exposure.

​You don't want to be the person who spreads COVID to someone who doesn't tolerate it as well as you do.