Delaware County: High vaccination rate credited for limiting omicron illness

As the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread, the risk of exposure for county residents is very high, Delaware Public Health District commissioner Shelia Hiddleson said Jan. 13.

"Everyone should expect at this time that if they are out and about, they are going to come across somebody who has COVID, and they should expect they are getting exposed," she said. "As you're out and about in the community and doing the things you're doing, don't just think about what you're doing today, but think about, 'What am I going to be doing in the next 48 hours? Because those people I come into contact with in the next 48 hours, if I am sick and don't know it, who could I possibly infect that would be devastated by this disease?' Who do they love and what's it going to do to them if they get COVID?"

She continued.

"If you can wear a mask, ... everybody needs to consider themselves, their immediate family and those that they come into contact every day with,” she said. “And think about if (those people) got COVID, how would their body react? If those people are in their immediate family, how would they be if they got COVID? ... At this point in the game, they're going to be exposed. So the best protection we have is a vaccine. The second-best protection we have right now is masking. Because we don't want people staying at home now."

The health district's weekly COVID-19 report cards posted on Facebook showed the county had 573 new confirmed cases per 100,000 population Dec. 29, a number that jumped to 950 on Jan. 5 and to 1,314 on Jan. 11.

The Ohio Department of Health's COVID-19 dashboard said the state had averaged 22,078 new reported cases daily for the 21 days preceding as of Jan. 18.

The virus also is hitting school-age children, Hiddleson said.

By the week of Jan. 3, the county received reports of 285 confirmed cases among a total 38,524 public school students and staff members.

Those reports don't categorize how many among that number were hospitalized, she said.

The health district does know that for a 15-county central Ohio region that includes Delaware County, 77 children age 17 or younger had been hospitalized in the eight weeks preceding Jan. 13, Hiddleson said.

"Delaware City Schools, like many other districts, has definitely been impacted by staff illness, including COVID-related absences, as well as shortages of available substitutes," district spokesperson Jennifer Ruhe said Jan. 18. "As of today (Jan. 18), we have been able to cover classes and other positions to continue to operate our schools. This is, in large part, due to other staff members helping to cover classes during their scheduled plan periods and our supervisors rearranging routes for transportation. In addition, many of our administrative and nonteaching support staff are also covering positions as needed. We are grateful for all of our staff and substitutes who continue to be available to help keep our schools operating as smoothly as possible."

"Olentangy Schools is managing the daily absence rate of certified staff with substitutes, whether their absence is due to illness or other reasons,” said Amanda Beeman, the district’s assistant director of communications. “The substitute pool continues to be lower than normal.”

Despite the increasing number of cases, Delaware County is faring better than some areas because of its high rate of vaccination, Hiddleson said.

As of Jan. 13, 79% of eligible county residents had started their vaccination.

"That's an amazing number," she said.

By the same time, 74% had completed their primary vaccination series, she said.

Even as the cases have increased, from Dec. 29 to Jan. 11 the percentage of Delaware County COVID-19 patients in hospital ICUs remained at 25%, the health department's report cards showed.

"We obviously are having very high community spread. The omicron variant across the country is the predominant variant at this point, and (we know) it is a little bit more infectious but that most people are not having as severe an illness with it as they did the delta variant," Hiddleson said.

Among Delaware County residents hospitalized from October to December 2021, 83% were unvaccinated, the health district's monthly report for January shows. That report is online at tinyurl.com/mrdanwy7.

"Even though we know it's not 100% at keeping you from getting the disease, (vaccination) still is your best protection. So if you haven't got your primary series, if it's time to get your booster, get vaccinated," Hiddleson said.

She said the new cases in the health district's report cards are confirmed either by medical professionals or home tests. Most home tests, she said, can be "proctored" remotely by medical professionals to ensure their accuracy and include instructions to accomplish it.

The Ohio Department of Health website says, "A proctored home test ... uses a telehealth session to guide the user through the testing and produces a documented result that can be used for official purposes like travel, return to school or ending quarantine."

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Delaware County: High vaccination rate credited for limiting omicron illness