THIS WEEK'S SUMMARY - July 23, 2022:
Fatalities may be leveling [page 7, 29]. This wave is prolonged: sub variants change to evade people's natural or vaccinated antibody defenses, sub variants are more contagious, and people seem less cautious. However, memory T-cells limit serious cases and deaths. NMED data glitch on workplace data.
OUR LOCAL GEOGRAPHIC AREA:
Grant County cases oscillate [page 15]; workplace cases undetermined due to NMED data glitch [page 18, 19]. Recent GRMC Covid admissions 2 in the last week [page 22]; with earlier covid-like ED visits bouncing around [page 23, 26]. Silver City and Bayard cases rose, Hurley oscillates [page 16, 17]. Grant County had 6 deaths, Luna 4 deaths, [page 14]. Covid variants are significant so caution is advised.
OUR STATE:
NM hospital beds and deaths rose [page 12, 13]. Workplace reports undetermined. Omicron sub variants increased [page 37]. NM case doubling times are not an issue [page 5, 6]. NM deaths rose [page 12, 14].
NEIGHBORING STATES:
AZ cases and beds rose. CO cases oscillate aggravated by older located cases being added to recent counts, covid beds rose. TX cases, positivity oscillate, covid beds rose. Refer to [page 8, 9, 10].
NATIONALLY:
New cases level, positivity fell, hospitalizations rose [page 7]. Deaths and deaths per case seem stable [page 7, 29]. Cases are in a gentle wave.
HOSPITALS:
COVID inpatient beds increased in AZ, CO, TX, and NM rose [page 27]
US daily admissions 7 day average over a month: 4005 (6/18), 6085 (7/17) (CDC) [page 28]
COVID admissions: Grant County rose, with Luna and Sierra stable [page 23, 41, 43]
VARIANT GROWTH:
In AZ, CO, NM, and TX the BA.4 and BA.5 [page 37] rose, which may prolong this wave. Remember, when antibodies are less effective, memory T-cells still work limiting case severity and death. New sub variant BA.2.75 not a concern yet.
SOMEWHAT RECENT NEWS:
07/21/22: Major study looked at every prominent vaccine platform in the world and saw that despite this variant, all of these vaccine platforms elicit solid immune responses. Boosters are effective against BA.5. [think T-cells]
07/17/22: The Novavax vaccine is CDC approved. It uses decades old protein technology as used in hepatitis B and shingles.
07/16/22: T cells played a critical role in shielding us from the worst ravages of COVID-19 when antibodies have been less effective, Harvard Medical School's Ekaterina Pesheva writes.
07/15/22: The BA.5 omicron subvariant is 4 times more resistant to COVID-19 vaccines. Unvaccinated people: have a 5 times higher chance of contracting the virus, chances of hospitalization are 7.5 times higher, and chances of death are 14 to 15 times higher, said Dr. Gregory Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.
05/27/22: All COVID vaccines stimulate production of antibodies and T cells. Omicron breakthroughs occur due to the insufficient neutralizing antibodies. Patients with vaccination-elicited memory T cells can be expected to rapidly recover from breakthrough infections without progression to severe disease.