Local COVID-19 cases spike amid BA.5 surge

Daisy Creager, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
·2 min read
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Jennifer Raymond, a registered nurse who works in the COVID-19 unit at Ascension St. John Jane Phillips, was the first nurse from the hospital to get Pfizer's new coronavirus vaccine in December 2020. Washington County Health Department's Tiffaney Stump administered the shot.
Jennifer Raymond, a registered nurse who works in the COVID-19 unit at Ascension St. John Jane Phillips, was the first nurse from the hospital to get Pfizer's new coronavirus vaccine in December 2020. Washington County Health Department's Tiffaney Stump administered the shot.

With the Omnicron BA.5 variant spreading, another surge of COVID-19 is hitting Washington County, which now has a high community level of the virus according to CDC data.

On July 25, the daily average of new cases was 17, an 11% increase from two weeks prior. However, the test positivity rate is 30%, which suggests cases are being “significantly undercounted,” according to data analysis from the New York Times.

Between mid-March and the end of May, Washington County’s daily average of new cases remained between one and three, before it began to increase in June.

In a July 14 video, Dr. Gregory Poland, leader of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, said the current variant is “hypercontagious” and four times more resistant to messenger RNA vaccines, like those produced by Moderna and Pfizer, than previous omicron strains.

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However, Poland said that getting the vaccine is still suggested, as it provides strong protection against hospitalization and death.

"Nonetheless, among the unvaccinated with this variant, they're about fivefold more likely to get infected than people who have been vaccinated and boosted, about 7½ times more likely to be hospitalized, and about 14 to 15 times more likely to die if they get infected,” Poland said.

According to the State of Oklahoma, only 45% of Washington County residents are fully vaccinated and only 18% have received a booster shot.

Vaccination rates are higher among Washington County residents older than 65, with 74% fully vaccinated and 45% boosted.

Currently, Ascension St. John Jane Phillips Hospital is under low stress. As of the week of July 15, the hospital had no COVID-19 patients in the ICU and low COVID-related inpatient bed usage, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

However, the dataset showed COVID-19-related ER visits were up 3% from the prior week. Tulsa hospital ICUs have entered a moderate stress level.

The CDC has reported symptoms of BA.5 to mostly align with those of previous Omnicron strains, including a cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and muscle pain. It is less likely than previous strains to impact sense of taste or smell.

On Thursday, White House officials announced Joe Biden had contracted the new variant.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Local COVID-19 cases spike amid BA.5 surge