THIS WEEK'S SUMMARY - July 30, 2022:
Good news this week. Overall cases fell or leveled, and fatalities may be leveling [page 5, 7].
OUR LOCAL GEOGRAPHIC AREA:
Grant County cases fell [page 15]; workplace cases improved a bit [page 18, 19]. Recent GRMC Covid admissions fell from 2 to 0 in the last week [page 22]; with earlier covid-like ED visits bouncing around [page 23, 26]. Silver City cases fell, Bayard and Hurley daily cases rose but fell week on week [page 16, 17]. Grant County had 2 deaths, Luna 1 death [page 14]. Covid variants are significant, we are not out of the woods yet.
OUR STATE:
NM daily hospital beds rose but the 7 day average fell. Deaths fell [page 12, 14]. Workplace reports fell. Omicron sub variants increased [page 37]. NM case doubling times are not an issue [page 5, 6]. Catron, Hidalgo, Luna, Dona Ana, and Sierra county data added [pages 38 etc]
NEIGHBORING STATES:
AZ cases oscillate (only weekly reporting) but beds rose. CO cases and positivity fell, covid beds leveled. TX cases fell and leveled, positivity oscillated, but covid beds rose. Refer to [pages 8, 9, 10].
NATIONALLY:
New cases level, positivity fell, hospitalizations rose [page 7]. Deaths seem stable [page 7].
HOSPITALS:
US daily admissions 7 day average over a month rose: 4200 (6/25), 6418 (7/24) (CDC) [page 28]
COVID inpatient beds increased in AZ and TX, CO oscillated, and NM were not concerning [page 27]
COVID admissions: Grant County fell from 2 to 0 [page 22]
VARIANT GROWTH: In AZ, CO, NM, and TX the BA.4 and BA.5 [page 37] rose. Sub variants have changed to evade people's natural or vaccinated antibody defenses, however as antibodies are less effective, memory T-cells usually limit serious cases and deaths. Underlying conditions are a concerning factor [page 36].
SOMEWHAT RECENT NEWS:
07/21/22: Major study looked at every prominent vaccine in the world and found that despite this variant, all of these vaccine platforms elicit solid immune responses. Boosters are effective against BA.5.
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 wrote.
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.