COVID risk remains high in Haywood

Sep. 20—The general public is seemingly steeped in "COVID fatigue."

There's little appetite for hearing about the pandemic that drastically changed life in America over the past two years and even less interest in following the protocols suggested or mandated since March 2020 aimed at keeping the population safer.

Still, that doesn't mean the COVID pandemic is over, said Dr. Mark Jaben, county medical director.

For the past 19 weeks, Haywood has been in the red zone, the worst possible, for community transmission of the virus. Those who have taken COVID tests at medical facilities or a lab were found to have a 30% positivity rate. That doesn't even count those who took home tests, Jaben said, because there is no way to make an official report.

"The goal for the positivity rate is under 5%," Jaben said. "We've been nowhere near that all summer. When the rate is between 20% and 30%, it tells us not enough people are being tested and that the actual number of cases is two to five times what's being reported. If you multiply that out, it means we've had as many cases this summer as we had at the peak of the pandemic last winter."

In addition, the number of COVID-related deaths this year are more than double this summer than last summer, he said, and the lull between May and July 2021 didn't happen during those months this year.

"This has gone back to being an old person's risk, with the majority of older citizens and those with underlying health conditions in danger," he said.

Someone who is unvaccinated is 12 to 15 times more likely to contract the virus, Jaben said.

The most protected are those who received the second booster and who plan to take the most recent booster approved, which is now available locally.

In Haywood, 35,000 individuals received the initial COVID vaccination but less than half that number received one or more booster shots, Jaben said. Booster shots greatly increase the chances of avoiding hospitalization or death from COVID, and also reduce the risk of getting long-COVID, or lingering symptoms from the virus.

Since COVID became a huge issue in North Carolina in March 2020, the virus has mutated numerous times, which is the reason the latest booster shot is targeted to attack the latest Omicron mutation, BA-5, which constitutes 80% of sampled cases in the state.

Herd immunity

Early on in the pandemic, health officials were saying once a super majority of the population had contracted COVID, herd immunity would be developed and that would bring the virus under control.

That hasn't happened, Jaben said, because of the multiple mutations of the virus. A case in point is how many people who contract COVID get it over and over again.

About 20% of new infections are re-infections, some for third and fourth times, Jaben said.

"Each variant has gotten better at evading a person's immunity, so viruses are better at infecting us, but we are maintaining good protection from bad outcomes through vaccination," Jaben said.

For communities in the red zone, the Centers for Disease Control recommends masking indoors and in crowds without good ventilation, he added.

"From a public health standpoint, if you are in a high-risk group, you need to still stay on top of this. For those who are not old or who don't have underlying conditions and you spend time around a family member or friend who is immune compromised, there's a role for everybody to play in terms of being as careful as you can be," Jaben said.