COVID-19…The Bad, the Good, and the Be Patient!
There is good news and there is bad news! The bad news is that our country has lost 525,000 citizens since this SARS-CoV-2 virus came to our shores a little over a year ago. The seven-day average of American deaths remains just below 2,000 per day. The number of newly diagnosed cases in the US has plateaued at around 59,000 a day over the last 7 days. This level of daily cases is truly untenable. We know the hazards of this level of ongoing community spread because of the history of the US surges which we have seen over the last year. The early June 2020 daily case number plateau of 20,000 was followed by a 66,000 daily case 7-day average in late July 2020. That surge abated to a level of a September 2020 plateau of 45,000, only to be followed by the January surge to a horrendous 250,000 daily 7-day average. Now we have come down to a 59,000 daily case plateau. The question and concern are whether we suffer another surge, as they have in Europe, because of the variants and our unwise abandoning of proven mitigation. The U.K. variant (B.1.1.7) now represents 3,133 cases in the USA, up from 2,753 cases three days previously. The known cases of this variant are rising in Ohio. Additionally, we have now identified the first Brazilian (P.1) variant in Ohio, as well as two additional “home grown Ohio” variants. Fueling the possible future surge in cases are the college students travelling to the beaches for spring breaks and multiple states, including Texas, completely lifting mask mandates. These are dangerous behaviors that can lead to more hospitalizations and deaths. It is foolhardy to throw away hard-fought gains, especially when we are closer to winning the battle against COVID-19.
The good news is that we have the tools to take a different course and help save ourselves. We can get vaccinated as soon as our time comes. Americans are rolling up their sleeves as demonstrated by the 2.9M people vaccinated on this past Saturday, March 6, and 2.4M vaccinated yesterday. Approximately 9.4% of the US population has been fully vaccinated. The ‘fully vaccinated’ designation is given to an individual two weeks after the 2nd dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or two weeks after the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. We now have more Americans fully vaccinated than the number of known COVID-19 cases in the country. The disconcerting news on the vaccination front is that disparity in vaccine administration remains. Medically underserved communities and communities of color are receiving a disproportionately low share of shots in the arms. The data collected confirms this even though only 53% of the states are reporting vaccination data by race and ethnicity. This Administration says that “equity is mission critical” since we cannot get out of this pandemic when those who are affected most are not given appropriate vaccination opportunity. The White House has a three-prong approach and a Health Equity Taskforce to achieve this end, being led by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. We healthcare providers will be watching closely for the needed results of these efforts because we ALL deserve protection.
The benefits of having been vaccinated are realized not only in the individual emotional relief in having had the shot(s) but also in the CDC guidance just released today which allows the following:
1)People in a household who have been fully vaccinated can get together with another fully vaccinated household indoors, without masks and without socially distancing.
2)Fully vaccinated people in a household can get together indoors with an unvaccinated household consisting of individuals not at risk for developing severe disease (CDC website) without masks and socially distancing.
3) Fully vaccinated individuals, who are not symptomatic, are no longer advised to quarantine after being in contact with a COVID positive individual.
Other than the circumstances above, everyone is encouraged to WEAR your mask, WASH your hands, WATCH your distance, avoid crowds, and WAIT for your turn to get vaccinated. Today’s changes in CDC guidance should be motivation for getting vaccinated. Our adherence to recommended mitigation measures will bear more fruit as our patience persists for just a few more months.
