For the 5th week in a row, new COVID-19 cases in Southern Berkshire have gone down and our county is now at the Low/Green level of CDC Community COVID-19 Impact. Community transmission of the virus has dropped by two-thirds since early May. The amount of PCR testing has gone down by only half since then, indicating this is a true decline and not just fewer people getting tested. Pittsfield’s wastewater samples show a significant decline for the third week in a row. While reported case numbers are still about double our lowest numbers so far this year from mid-March (see center graph on the dashboard), this is all great news, for several reasons.
1) Less COVID virus circulating in the community = Safer events and socializing in general this summer. Folks at high risk for severe disease and their household members are still better off masking with a KN95 if they’ll be indoors for extended periods with those outside their social circle, but for everyone else, this is probably as worry-free of a time as we’ll have for a while.
2) Low summer transmission = A better starting point for the likely wave of new infections we’ll see this fall and winter. The proportion of BA.4 & BA.5 Omicron subvariant infections continues to grow in the Northeast and around the country. They have evolved to better escape our vaccine- and natural infection-derived immunity by a long shot, compared to the previous versions of COVID virus we’ve dealt with so far. Starting with fewer cases in September means a slower rate of growth, at least initially.
3) Low community viral levels = Time to get up to speed with vaccinations and boosters before fall. Everyone 6 months and up is now eligible for the primary series. Everyone 5 years and up is eligible for a booster (5 months since last shot). Everyone who is immune-compromised or over 50 is eligible for a second booster (4 months since first booster). Those who received J&J as their primary vaccine have been shown to have very little protection against infection with an Omicron variant of the virus and are highly recommended to receive a Pfizer or Moderna booster ASAP.
This is the moment to reflect on what the last 12 months have been like. Since the Delta and then Omicron variants emerged in July 2021, the majority of us have used sick leave or lost income from being exposed or infected. Many of our kids missed a week or more of school for the same reasons, often with minimal symptoms. And sadly, a large number of our older loved ones found themselves alone, frighteningly sick at home, or in a nursing home, or even needing to be hospitalized. In South County alone, over 20 people died of COVID-related causes in the past year.
Our initial conception of the COVID-19 vaccines—that they would be a magic bullet to eradicate the virus forever and return our lives to “normal”—needs to be updated, at least until we see another technological breakthrough. What the original vaccine formulations (and the newer ones being studied now) have achieved is a massive reduction in our risk of hospitalization and death. As the virus continues to evolve in its transmissibility and symptoms, we need to evolve our thinking as well. So far, most people have experienced COVID-19 as only a cold or flu. But over 1 million U.S. residents have died—our COVID and excess death rate far exceeds most other countries in our income bracket. And we still don’t know exactly why this virus sometimes randomly attacks the bodies of otherwise young and healthy people, even infants, the way it does. Heck, half of children under 5 who have been hospitalized for COVID have had no prior health issues at all. And despite the loud, often wildly inaccurate voices of the highly organized anti-vaxx movement, the reality is that short- and long-term risks of vaccination are just a tiny fraction of the short- and long-term health risks of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Scientific research continues to confirm this, over and over, but it can be hard to hear amidst the anti-vaxx noise.
This summer is a good time to buy yourself and your loved ones some time. Time to travel, time to attend an important event, time to relax a little. We all deserve that. Get vaccinated. Get boosted.
