Editor’s note: The following Tri-Town Health Department update was written by Amy Hardt, MPH BSN RN, Lead Public Health Nurse at the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative, and sent out Monday, May 23. It has been edited for clarity.
We had a very slight decrease in newly reported COVID-19 cases across Southern Berkshire (-1%) last week, while the county overall continued upward, albeit at a much slower pace (one-tenth the rate of increase from two weeks ago). Not surprisingly, the past seven days have brought an increase in local COVID-positive hospitalizations, bringing us closer to the levels that we saw over the winter. Berkshire County remains at the HIGH/RED level of community impact for the past month, as do all of the counties surrounding us, still with the exception of Hampden and Hampshire counties, which are at a medium/yellow level.
EVERYONE is currently recommended by the CDC to mask indoors. High risk folks should consult with their doctor about possibly limiting their community exposures until local cases come back down. They also may want to talk with their doctor about medications to boost immunity in immunocompromised patients (Evusheld), and/or make a plan for reducing the likelihood of severe disease if they do become infected. While approved oral antivirals and monoclonal antibody treatments are not for everyone, for those who are eligible and can take them safely, they can be a lifesaver.
In Massachusetts, about half of the total number of COVID-19 infections (1,835,665 cumulative cases as of 5/20/22, or about 25% of our total state population) occurred within the past five months. Many people recovered from COVID-19 are now wondering how well protected they are against reinfection. Reinfection is defined as a positive laboratory test for COVID-19 that occurs more than 90 days after a previous positive test result. The emergence of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021 has turned the tables on what we previously thought about reinfection risk.
At present, reinfection data is not officially reported in Massachusetts. New York State data indicates that over the course of the pandemic so far, reported reinfections have made up 4.4% of total cases. However, since Omicron became a significant presence in mid-December last year, reinfections have increased, making up 10-15% of newly reported cases. New York epidemiologists estimate that 87% of all their state’s reinfections occurred in just the past six months.
We also have limited data for the 10 towns that currently make up the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative. Out of 3,167 cases that have been reported since mid-December 2021, just 10 (0.32%) of those cases can be identified as true reinfections, confirmed by laboratory test results. Of those 10 cases, the average time elapsed between infections was 17 weeks, or around four months. The first infections would almost certainly have been either the Delta variant or Omicron BA.1, and then the second infection would have been Omicron BA.2. The average age of these 10 individuals was 15.7 years old, with the oldest being 24 and the youngest 5 years old. Eight of the 10 reinfections occurred in fully vaccinated individuals. A mix of no symptoms at all to mild symptoms was experienced by this small group.
With such a limited pool, we can’t really use these findings to say much more. But they do confirm, as we all know anecdotally by now, that reinfections do exist. Very likely there have been many more than are reported — either not detected through testing or only found via an unreported home test. Hospitalization risk is likely quite low for COVID-19 reinfections, given how our immune systems typically respond to repeated exposures of the same virus family. However, we don’t know the risk for long COVID with reinfections. And without a surveillance system in place, it’s a guessing game to determine true reinfection risk for the general population.
