COMMUNITY NEWS
COVID: 228 Deaths, Omicron Forecasts & A New Lawsuit
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By Jondi Gumz
he death toll from Covid-19 in Santa Cruz County is up to 228 but the local impact of the South African Omicron variant is not clear. Omicron, which spreads much more easily than the Delta variant, prompted Gov. Newsom to order health care workers to get a booster shot by Feb. 1 and University of California campuses, including UC Santa Cruz, to order classes to shift online for the first two weeks of January. However, reports from South Africa, Denmark and the United Kingdom indicate case rose with fewer hospitalizations and Omicron cases resolving more quickly. In Denmark, a study by Statnes Serum Institute of 43,000 cases found only 0.5% of Omicron patients were treated at a hospital, compared to 1.4% of patients with other variants. The rise in U.S. cases and the quicker resolution led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to reduce the isolation time for those with a positive test from 10 days to five days if they have no fever and no other symptoms. This change is expected to relieve short-staffing pressures at hospitals and airlines due to exposures. In November, Dr. Paul Marik, director of the Intensive Care Unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, sued to regain access to FDA-approved drugs and other therapies that had been highly effective for critically ill patients with COVID-19, reducing ICU
deaths by as much as 50 percent. The lawsuit contends Sentara Healthcare is “preventing terminally ill COVID patients from exercising their right to choose and to receive safe, potentially life-saving treatment determined to be appropriate for them by their attending physician.” As Marik put it, “This case is about doctors, having the ability to honor their Hippocratic oath, to follow evidencebased medicine, and to treat our patients the best we know how … I refuse to watch another patient die from COVID-19 knowing that I was not allowed to give them proven treatments that could have saved their life.” Omicron arrived in California after 11 Kaiser hospital employees in Oakland attended a wedding in Milwaukee, Wis. They were vaccinated, with boosters, and took off their masks while eating and drinking. They reported mild symptoms, and recovered at home. Omichron’s fast-spreading nature and modeling predicting a January surge led to UCSC’s announcement on Dec. 21 of online classes in January. California health officials say people with two shots aren’t protected from the Omicron variant, so they recommend a second booster.
10 / January 2022 / Scotts Valley Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com
Two of the people in Santa Cruz County who recently died with Covid had underlying conditions. The most recent was a man in his early 80s who had been vaccinated but did not have a booster shot. It’s not clear which variant he had. It’s impossible to say how many cases are due to a variant, because the county dashboard reports all cases together, not by variant. The newest data challenge is the new at-home PCR tests, which President Biden promises to make available to the public for free. They give people fast results but there’s no requirement to report results to county health officials. So the Santa Cruz County health dashboard may be undercounting in the future as more people take advantage of home testing. Clearly holiday gatherings have led to higher case counts — such as 80 on Dec. 20 — but that daily count is much smaller than in Jan. 4, 2020, when Delta predominated and the daily count peaked at 300. Local Omicron anta Cruz County Public Health reported two COVID-19 samples collected on Dec. 16 and 17 were identified as the Omicron variant. Both are North County residents in their mid-20s.
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Dr. Cal Gordon, Santa Cruz County deputy health officer, said individuals should get vaccinated and boosted, wear a mask indoors and in crowded settings, get tested if symptomatic or exposed; and stay home if sick. Everyone 5 years and older is eligible for a vaccine and everyone 16 years and older is eligible for a booster. A Danish study published Dec. 22 and not yet peer reviewed reports a third dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech’s or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine offers a “significant” increase in protection against the Omicron variant for people age 60 and up. Contract Tracing Texts anta Cruz County health officials advise people to get tested before visiting or traveling, upon return, and again 3-5 days later. They recommend keeping group gatherings small, preferably outside or in a well-ventilated space. A new contact tracing system is being used — the state’s Contact Tracing Virtual Assistant may send you a text message from 23393, the California COVID-19 Response Team. Health officials ask for cooperation to help stop COVID from spreading. Some testing sites are on holiday schedules, resuming regular hours on Jan. 3. For local information on COVID-19 including on where to get vaccinated or tested go to www.santacruzhealth.org/ coronavirusor call (831) 454-4242 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Dec. 13, with California Covid cases up 47 percent and hospitalizations up 14 percent, the state Department of Public Health ordered masks be worn indoors to prevent this highly transmissible variant from spreading. Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel had already ordered masks to be worn indoors as of Nov. 22, including at home with guests. On Dec. 15, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported Omicron infections are likely in people who are fully vaccinated. A U.S. study, not yet peer-reviewed, found all three U.S. Covid vaccines appear to be significantly less protective against the Omicron variant in lab testing, but a booster dose appears to restore protection. Pfizer reported three shots neutralized Omicron in the lab. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have not released data.
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“COVID Update” page 15
