COVID-19 Update
The Global Pandemic continues to hang on, as the state and county continue to see cases. The big news has been the COVID-19 variant that has come out of South African, called Omicron. The push for people to get vaccinated continues as Cass County only sits at about 34% fully vaccinated with sits way below both state and national rankings, with the State of Texas at 54% and the country at about 59%.
Last week the CDC issued a press release on the new Variant, “On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified a new variant, B.1.1.529, as a Variant of Concern and has named it Omicron. No cases of this variant have been identified in the U.S. to date. CDC is following the details of this new variant, first reported to the WHO by South Africa. We are grateful to the South African government and its scientists who have openly communicated with the global scientific community and continue to share information about this variant with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and CDC. We are working with other U.S. and global public health and industry partners to learn more about this variant, as we continue to monitor its path.”
According to CBS News, “As of Monday, most travelers from southern African nations are barred from entering the United States, and restrictions have been renewed for travel from southern Africa to many European countries.” That said there are many that believe the variant is already in the United States.
The good news so far is that the mutations symptoms seem milder, “Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, reported to Reuters “that on Nov. 18 she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit ‘very mild’. Coetzee said a patient on Nov. 18 reported at her clinic being “extremely fatigued” for two days with body aches and headache.”
The bad news so far is that Omicron variant also appears to be spreading faster. The World Health Organization has reported that “this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as a marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage.”
It has also been reported that the new strain might be resistant to the current vaccines, but that the manufacturers believe they will have a booster in early 2022. “Pfizer said an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine will be ‘ready in 100 days’ if the new Omicron variant is resistant to its current vaccine,” reported Business Insider.
In Cass County, we have obviously not seen the new variant, but we do have 20 new cases for November bringing a total of 2761 reported cases which is pretty high per capita. Our percentage of people who have been vaccinated is as follows: 5+ Vaccinated with At Least One Dose: 38.76%; 5+ Fully Vaccinated: 33.98%; 65+ Vaccinated with At Least One Dose: 64.75% and 65+ Fully Vaccinated: 58.18%.