West Virginia officials warn of oncoming surge of Delta, Omicron virus cases

By CHARLES BOOTHE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

West Virginia is looking “right in the face of another surge,” state COVID-19 Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said Tuesday.

Marsh said during Gov. Jim Justice’s pandemic briefing all the signs are pointing in that direction, and the surge will initially be the Delta variant and then it is “very likely to be followed by the Omicron variant.”

Those signs, he said, include an RT value, or transmission rate, at 1.2, well above the 1.0 level considered the start of a surge; colder states already seeing surges and hospitalization woes; hospitalization numbers continuing to rise in West Virginia; and the proliferation of the Omicron in the United Kingdom, doubling the number of new cases in two days and taking over as the dominant variant from Delta.

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“Omicron is coming next … and will absolutely be seen in West Virginia,” he said.

Information on the Omicron variant regarding severity and response to vaccines is still coming in, he said, but studies in South Africa, where it originated, are showing more children are being hospitalized but it may be less severe overall.

A 20 percent increase in cases among those under 18 has been seen, he added.

However, Marsh said the “less severe” aspect of the variant may at least in part be attributable to the population of South Africa, which is generally younger and healthier.

“West Virginia is a vulnerable state,” he said, referring to an older population and a population with more chronic health issues. “Omicron spreads very rapidly.”

How effective vaccines are against Omicron remains uncertain, but a report from South African researchers released Tuesday was encouraging regarding hospitalizations.

According to a report on CBS News, the preliminary analysis shows “the standard two-dose regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID19 vaccine has been about 70 percent effective at preventing hospitalization over the last three weeks, as Omicron has swept across the country.”

However, the data also shows the Omicron variant does appear “to have a significant ability to evade the vaccines to cause infection. The data released on Tuesday suggests two shots of the Pfizer jab are only about 33 percent effective at preventing infection.”

Another report Tuesday on Fox News said the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that the Omicron variant is spreading “at a rate not seen with any previous variant.”

“Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril,” he said. “Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems.”

Omicron has now been detected in 77 countries and in more than half the states, including Virginia.

The impact on hospitals has Marsh as well as Retired Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, director of the Joint InterAgency Task Force, concerned.

Hoyer said COVID hospitalizations are increasing (rising to 643 on Tuesday) and the percentage of those patients in ICUs and on ventilators is “increasing significantly,” with 209 in ICUs and 121 on vents.

The number of patients admitted each day has also increased to between 76 and 85, well above the 60 a day that “puts us in a significantly challenging position with our hospitals.”

Marsh said hospitals are already facing challenges, including a problem maintaining an adequate number of staff to care for patients.

It is more than just a matter of having beds, hospitals must have the staff to take care of patients and that can limit capacity when numbers are high.

“Capacity is directly proportionate to the outcomes in surges,” he said. “When hospitals become overwhelmed, it’s not just a problem with COVID that becomes and an issue…” Hospitals must continue to treat other patients who may have a stroke or heart attack or severely injured in an automobile crash, and an influx of COVID patients can jeopardize that.

Both Marsh and Hoyer emphasize the need to be fully vaccinated and get boosters when ready (six months after both doses of Pfizer and Moderna and two months after the oneshot Johnson and Johnson).

“We need to double down on making sure we are fully vaccinated and make sure our children are fully vaccinated,” Marsh said. “That (infected children) is a big part of the spread.”

As of Tuesday, the state DHHR (Department of Health and Human Resources) reported that 880,780 state residents are now fully vaccinated, or about 52 percent of the eligible population (age 5 and above).

Of that number, 268,675 boosters have been administered.

West Virginia’s COVIDrelated death toll stood at 5,114 Tuesday.

Marsh said that nationwide, the toll, which is at about 800,000 now, is likely to eventually surpass 1 million.

“One of every 100 people over age 65 has died of COVID,” he said, with 75 percent of all COVID deaths over 65.

Including all ages, one in 420 people has died of COVID, he added. — Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline. com