3 years after COVID arrived in Virginia, case numbers continue to fall

As the pandemic enters its third year, the Department of Health continues to promote vaccination and treatment, places continue to conduct research on treatments like at the University of Virginia and local health districts still provide vaccinations and testing across Hampton Roads.

Then-president Donald Trump declared the spread of the novel coronavirus a public health emergency on March 13, 2020. Over 1.1 million Americans have died due to COVID since then, with nearly 24,000 Virginians among them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases have typically reached their highest points of the year in the first weeks of a new year in the wake of the holiday season, according to VDH data.

This year, those cases were lower than both previous post-holiday seasons reaching weekly average peaks of just over 2,400 new cases a day compared to early 2021 which peaked at a weekly average of over 18,000 new cases a day in the second week of January and in 2020 peaking at an average of over 6,000 new cases every day also in the third week of January, according to VDH data.

Hospitalizations and deaths were also significantly decreased in the first months of year at this typically-worst of the year time period, according to data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association and the CDC. In the week ending March 3, 2021, 1,506 Virginians died from COVID while the following year on the week ending Feb. 9, 893 Virginians died over the previous seven days. In the most recent weekly deaths recorded on March 8, 20 Virginians had died from the virus. The post-holiday peak arrived on January 18 with 143 Virginians having died over the previous seven days

Since the week that ended Jan. 4 to the week that ended March 8, 987 Virginians have died from COVID-19, according to CDC data.

“While we’re in a better place with COVID-19 and want to continue to look into treatments and vaccines, I think it’s important to remember that people’s best protection against COVID-19 is by staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations,” said Heather Harmon-Sloan, the state health department’s COVID-19 unit lead in the Division of Surveillance and Investigation in the Office of Epidemiology.

As the pandemic has progressed, the public has built up immunity — either through vaccines or naturally acquired, she said.

“I think it’s really important to remember part of the reason why we think that we’ve seen lower trends over the 2022 to 2023 winter season this year versus prior years in the pandemic is because now we have developed so much immunity through the population — both acquired immunity through vaccination as well as naturally acquired immunity from infection itself,” Harmon-Sloan said.

In January, President Joe Biden said he planned to allow the emergency declaration to lapse in May, according to the Associated Press.

Health departments’ role is also changing as demand for their services have lessened as vaccinations, treatments and testing have become more available through the private sector, according to Bob Engle of the Virginia Beach Health District.

“We’ve been going out into the community for the last three years and the demands really dropped off,” Engle said.

Even back in the fall, there would be 50 to 100 people signed up for COVID vaccinations with 40 to 60 people coming to the health department for testing every week. This past weekend, across three clinics a total of eight people showed up, according to Engle.

The private sector has brought forward resources whereas the public health departments were the focal point. This, along with the drop off in demand for services, frees up the department to go back more toward how they were operating before the pandemic, he said.

“All our programs are coming back online and COVID is being worked into our normal operations now,” Engle said.

Starting in May, on the first and third Tuesday of each month, the health department is going to have clinics with COVID vaccines and monkeypox vaccines at their center on Corporation Lane, he said.

“At the height of COVID, we were getting over 1,000 cases a day. Last couple months, we were getting 50 a day. Last four days we’re down to 15 cases,” he said.

Other local health districts have also shifted operations, such as Three Rivers Health District and Chesapeake, which still offer vaccine clinics but demand continues to drop, according to information from the health districts provided by a Virginia Department of Health spokesperson.

Research at VDH continues into respiratory diseases and how they will continue to impact the population. This year, though COVID cases were relatively lower than previous years, other viruses had returned with force, such as RSV and the flu. VDH will continue to prioritize those most at-risk of COVID, such as the elderly, weakened immune systems, certain medical conditions and facing health inequities, Harmon-Sloan said.

In the center of the state, research by Dr. Jie Sun and colleagues at UVA Health, have studied the potential for another treatment of COVID that would be more helpful to obese or diabetic people who have caught the virus.

Steroids that are effective in treating severe COVID-19 also cause blood glucose to rise and can cause complications for obese and diabetic patients, according to Sun.

Testing human lung cells, the researchers found promising results by reducing the activity of cells’ powerhouses, called mitochondria, which in turn promoted lung recovery, prevented blood sugar spikes and inflammation, according to information provided by UVA Health. They published their findings in a medical journal, Science Immunology, in late February.

“We’re very excited about the data and trying to apply for resources to start clinical trials,” Sun said.

However, it remains to be seen how the drug will fare in real-world use. Sun said those most at-risk should continue to keep up to date with available vaccines because even with the available and possible future treatments, prevention is ideal.

“It’s always better to prevent the disease than treat the disease,” he said.

Ian Munro,757-447-4097, ian.munro@virginiamedia.com