COVID omicron transmission is sky high in Stanislaus area. How many are boosted?

As the COVID omicron variant runs rampant in Stanislaus County, hospitalizations are close to the peak level recorded last summer and more than 30 percent of tests are coming back positive, county health officials said Tuesday.

Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county public health officer, told the Board of Supervisors in an update that wastewater testing suggests 68 percent of COVID-19 infections are the omicron variant and 3 percent are the delta strain. The remainder of cases may be other coronavirus variants.

Vaishampayan said COVID hospital admissions have climbed to 290 patients, with 42 in intensive care units, though data shows omicron does not cause as much severe illness compared to previous surges. A major impact is people flocking to hospital emergency departments.

Dr. Murali Naidu, chief executive officer at Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, said emergency departments in the county are seeing a large uptick in patient visits and a high “walkout rate”. The walkout rate, which has increased by 30 percent at Emanuel, includes people getting tested for COVID and then going home and people leaving before they are examined or treatment is completed.

The county has issued messages urging the public not to seek COVID-19 tests at hospital emergency departments. Only those with serious symptoms or urgent medical needs should visit the ER.

Naidu said emergency departments before mid-afternoon are reaching the crisis level at which ambulances switch to a round-robin system. Patients are taken to the next hospital in the rotation.

With the omicron variant, more hospitalized patients are identified as COVID-positive after coming in for another medical issue, Naidu said. Local hospitals have to isolate those patients, and the coronavirus infection “makes what they have more severe and they are in the hospital longer,” Naidu said.

There are hopes the omicron variant has peaked in the United States, based on a drop in the caseload to 744,000 per day, but the surge came to Stanislaus County one or two weeks later than in other parts of California.

Health officials said COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots remain effective in preventing severe illness and death, even though omicron is able to infect vaccinated individuals, giving most a sore throat and cold symptoms for a week.

Are county residents getting booster shots?

Vaishampayan said about 1,500 vaccine doses per day are administered in Stanislaus County by drugstores, clinics and private healthcare systems.

More than 298,000 county residents have received the full vaccination against COVID-19, including 65 percent of adults 18 and older, 79.4 percent of seniors 65 and over, 73.4 percent of adults age 50 to 64, 56.2 percent of people 18 to 49, 50 percent of teenagers 16 to 17, and 44.6 percent of adolescents 12 to 15.

The vaccination rate for eligible residents age 5 and older stands at 56.8 percent.

County residents have been slower in getting COVID booster shots. About 40 percent of seniors 65-plus are boosted, while 26 percent of adults age 50 to 64 and 12 percent of adults 18 to 49 have received booster shots.

Health officials said treatments for people at high risk of progression to severe disease are allocated to the county and healthcare providers. Drugs such as molnupiravir and Paxlovid for mild to moderate COVID-19 need to be prescribed and managed by physicians.