Positive COVID-19 test rates and hospitalizations in North Carolina soared during the long holiday weekend, state health officials announced this week, as a spike in cases led largely by the contagious omicron variant continues globally.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported that almost 22% of tests performed this Sunday were positive, reaching a record high during the entirety of the pandemic. The positivity rate was more than double the percentage from a week earlier.
State government closures for Christmas meant that state officials had not released daily coronavirus figures in many days, leading to a lag in reporting data. As the week continued, the trend in North Carolina has mirrored that found across the country. Just as with the thanksgiving holiday before, a spike is being seen following a period of school closures and close quarters celebrations during the holiday season.
North Carolina reported more than 32,000 new cases over the previous six days, an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the six days prior to that stretch. In the last seven days, Surry County has reported over 600 new cases, and NCDHHS reports 64 new cases in the county since yesterday.
Northern Regional Hospital reports they have 33 in-patients who are positive with the virus, totaling 42% of their entire acute care census. Currently both the intensive care unit and the step-down unit are full, and space is at a premium throughout the hospital.
“Due to the high volume of patients being seen, we are seeing a higher number of patients being held in the Emergency Department awaiting an inpatient bed,” Robin Hodgin, Senior Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Nursing Officer for Northern. “We do have some space adjacent to the emergency department that is used as an overflow area to treat patients. Northern has not activated any diversion plans or status diverting patients away from our hospital.”
The number of North Carolinians identified as hospitalized COVID patients reached 2,258 as of last report, a sharp uptick from the beginning of December. When compared to one month ago, there were only 1,105 people hospitalized with the virus on November 29 across the whole state.
The case count numbers for the state are enough to create a sense of dread, 9,379 residents of this state are in the hospital right now with COVID-19. Over 480 people of those hospitalized as of Monday were in intensive care units, DHHS data said.
The lagging data is catching up, and these numbers are likely to rise further as tests sent off to labs come back and then those results are logged on the appropriate day of the test being taken. Right after thanksgiving, there were 1,725 cases in the state, there are over five time as many cases in now.
In a news conference this week, the director of the World Health Organization warned that as the Delta and Omicron variants circulate the globe simultaneously, the world could see a “tsunami” of COVID cases in the coming months.
“Right now, Delta and Omicron are twin threats that are driving up cases to record numbers, which again is leading to spikes in hospitalizations and deaths,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “I am highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta – is leading to a tsunami of cases.”
In a new development, the CDC and FDA announced that results of two studies showed that the Johnson & Johnson booster shot provided strong protection from the much-feared omicron variant. According to a statement from Johnson & Johnson, two of their shots reduced the risk of hospitalization from omicron by upwards of 85% during their trial.
A separate study on the Johnson & Johnson booster showed that when paired with the Pfizer two-shot vaccination regimen, a 41-fold increase in neutralizing antibody response was found. This is good news for those uncertain if taking a booster shot is right for them, or even necessary when they see the likes of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt refusing his booster.
Vaccination rates in Surry County are holding at the same approximate levels and residents in the most vulnerable category, age 65 and up, still have the best vaccination rate with 82% of seniors being fully vaccinated. That number falls to 59% for those over age 18 being fully vaccinated, and 49% is the current rate of full vaccination for all residents of the county. The rate of full vaccination for all age groups nationally currently stands at 61.9%.
“No vaccine is perfect, for one thing,” said Dr. Egon Ozer an infectious diseases specialist at Northwestern Medicine. “Especially with so much virus that’s still circulating, there’s always potential that there’s going to be some breakthrough, that people are still going to be able to get some degree of the virus. That’s certainly been the case with delta, as well.”
Some protection, doctors agree, is better than no protection at all. At Northern Regional Hospital, 88% of their patients are unvaccinated. COVID-19 vaccinations, and boosters are available locally from the county, and from private drug stores and pharmacies free of charge. Walgreens is even incentivizing getting booster shots and flu shots at the same time. “Flu cases have started to rise,” Hodgin reports, “However are not to the pre-covid level we normally see this time of year.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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