Marin Braces For Omicron

MARIN COUNTY, CA — With omicron cases exploding in New York City and Europe among many other parts of the world, it is no longer a question of if, but when, the hyper-contagious variant lands in Marin with the same thunder, the county’s top health official acknowledged Monday.

“We’re reaching an important juncture in our pandemic response,” Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement the county posted on YouTube in which he urged fully vaccinated residents to get booster shots that have been shown to level the playing field against the highly mutated virus.

“We will be facing a significant surge in cases in the coming days, possibly by the new year.”

Marin detected its first omicron case last week, and health officials don’t believe it’s an isolated case. Low levels of the new variant were detected in several samples of Marin wastewater.

The speed with which omicron has vanquished delta as the dominant variant has shocked the world.

Federal health officials said Monday that omicron has already become the dominant variant in the U.S. accounting for 73 percent of new infections last week, The Associated Press reports.

“There’s no reason why we wouldn’t expect that to be our experience very soon as well,” Willis said.

Scientists still don’t know for certain whether omicron is less virulent, or how long the potentially devastating new COVID-19 wave will last.

But there is little doubt that it’s coming.

“All of us have a date with omicron,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told The AP.

“If you’re going to interact with society, if you’re going to have any type of life, omicron will be something you encounter, and the best way you can encounter this is to be fully vaccinated.”

The good news for Marin is that it’s among the nation’s most vaccinated communities.

As of Tuesday, 88.0 percent of all Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 95.1 percent of county residents have received at least one jab, according to the county's vaccination dashboard.

Among Marin's eligible population (ages 5 and over), 91.2 percent of eligible Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 98.0 percent of county residents have gotten at least one shot.

Willis said just over 100,000 Marin residents have received their booster shots, another 100,000 or so are fully vaccinated but haven’t yet received their booster, and an additional 50,000 are either ineligible or unwilling to get vaccinated.

Willis now aims to get one of the nation’s most vaccinated communities back to their local pharmacy or clinic for another jab.

Studies have shown those who have received their booster shots have the greatest protection against omicron for infection, severe illness, hospitalization and death.

Fully vaccinated people are protected from catastrophe but not mild infections, and the unvaccinated “remain as at risk as ever against severe illness, hospitalization and death,” Willis said.

“As omicron hits our community, the tinder … that will be accelerating omicron through our community will be these groups of un-boosted and fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people,” Willis said.

Marin tops the state with the highest vaccination rate and the North Bay county ranks among the nation's top 10 in that department among all counties (regardless of population), The New York Times reports.

Marin was the nation's most vaccinated county among those with a population over 250,000, according to data compiled earlier this year by The San Francisco Chronicle.

“If we have one asset, it’s high vaccination rates, it’s helped us through every stage of this pandemic so far (this year), it has been our singular best strategy,” Willis said.

“We have one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation, and we have corresponding low case rates hospitalizations and deaths. That’s an asset we’re going to continue to lean into. It will help us get through the next stage of the pandemic.

“But we’re not there yet, we can’t rest on those laurels.”

Getting vaccination and booster shots figures to be challenging in the coming days with demand soaring.

Willis urged residents to visit Marin’s Vaccine Finder website to schedule an appointment.