Progress has been made against COVID since last year; new boosters could be available soon

Aug. 27—A year ago, Freeman Health System and Mercy Hospital Joplin were treating nearly 100 area residents for COVID-19, with 15 men and women on ventilators, as the delta variant swept through the Joplin metro area.

Over the next few days, Freeman officials would report seven coronavirus-related deaths, with Freeman CEO Paula Baker pleading to the public to schedule their vaccine shots as soon as possible.

Fast forward 12 months.

Freeman officials on Wednesday were reporting just five hospitalized COVID-19 patients; Mercy officials on Thursday reported 11 in-house patients. The two regional hospitals have seen, on average, between nine to 10 patients a month.

"This," said Donna Stokes, Mercy's senior infection prevention lead, "is a remarkable improvement."

The turnaround, she said, has been accomplished by several key factors, including "vaccinations, boosters, some immunity, and just that this particular variant that we're dealing with currently. Though highly contagious, most of the patients do not show those dramatic respiratory distress symptoms" seen with COVID-19 patients sick from the original alpha or delta variants.

A new vaccine booster shot, if authorized by federal authorities, could be available free of charge to residents as early as next month.

The current variant found in Southwest Missouri — omicron BA.5 is its official name — is highly contagious but doesn't seem to sicken people to the point of hospitalization, at least not in the dramatic numbers recorded in 2020 and 2021. For a vast majority of Joplin-area residents, they are on their feet and back to work or school in a matter of days.

Newton County Health Department director Larry Bergner said that on Aug. 15, there were 176 active cases countywide; on Wednesday, those numbers had dropped to 81.

'Mild symptoms'

"We're releasing a lot of people and we're finding that the symptoms overall are really light," he said. "There's always outliers, but for the most part everybody is having very mild symptoms, ... and they're getting over it in five days."

This time last year, said Jessica Liberty, Freeman's infection prevention and control manager, the delta variant was rampaging "hot and heavy" throughout the Four-State Area, with unvaccinated people particularly vulnerable to the virus.

"It was bad. People forget about that. and it seems like it was forever in so many ways, but really, it wasn't all that long ago. COVID has remained a presence in the community, but it lacks the severity it did early on," she said. "Where we're at today right now is a very exciting place to be."

Unlike the dramatic spike in cases recorded this time last year with the start of the new school year, Bergner said they're not bracing for a repeat performance this time around.

"With the combination of the vaccine and the vaccinated, and those who've had COVID and have natural immunity, and with the fact that with each new variant it seems to be less severe ... we're really not looking for a spike," he said. "I may be wrong and it could happen, but I'm not anticipating it. I think we're in good shape."

"We're going to church and going to public functions and we're out doing the things we normally would do," Liberty added. "We're all maybe acquiring some immunity that maybe we didn't have last year because we were at home. Things are getting better and people are doing better and recovering fully, which is obviously something that we want to see."

'The summit'Scientists say the continued development of COVID-19 vaccines may go the way of flu vaccines, which are changed every year to try to match the dominant strains that are likely to be circulating.

Despite the optimism, COVID-19 isn't going away anytime soon, Stokes cautioned — it still poses a danger to society.

"I think I would say that we have reached the summit" of the proverbial COVID-19 mountain, though as a nation we haven't quite made it to the downslope, she said — national coronavirus numbers reflect that.

"I do hope to see continued improvement and less number of cases (because) when you look at the numbers nationally they are still pretty significant," Stokes said. "There's a number of individuals who, for example, they have someone (COVID-19) positive in their family and they become sick, and they don't test or they do a home test." Such instances "are not being picked up in our statistics. Really, the number of people with COVID is higher than the numbers the state of Missouri or the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)" are reporting.

On the plus side, "These are people who can stay home and do not need to seek out medical care," she said.

In the meantime, drug manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer have both developed new booster vaccines with new components added to the traditional formula that allows it to aggressively target both the original strain and the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-strains that currently dominate the United States. Both companies are seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization. Should that be granted, the new boosters would be available at retail stores such as Walgreens, Walmart and CVS next month.

Health officials are encouraging those who are eligible for the new booster shot to schedule an appointment.

"I would encourage (the booster) if you have underlying health conditions," Bergner said. Ultimately, "it's something you should talk to your physician about, to see what they recommend is best for you."