Enter Omicron: Delta Cases Surge In CT As New Variant Is Reported

CONNECTICUT — The omicron variant may be getting all the buzz, but delta still rules the coronavirus roost.

The first case of the latest riff on the virus was detected in Connecticut on Saturday. Health officials reported a fully-vaccinated sexagenarian living in Hartford County developed mild symptoms.

Scientists in South Africa who have been at the forefront of omicron research said Friday the new variant is spreading twice as quickly as delta, powered in part by an ability to dodge the body’s immune defenses. Their research has not yet been peer reviewed.

But delta is still the dominant variant in Connecticut, as it is worldwide, and it's been on delta's back where the state has ridden to a 10-month high in the daily positivity rate reported by the Department of Public Health this past week.

The current daily coronavirus infection rate mirrors last December's, before the start of the vaccine rollout. A glance at the daily positivity rates from last Friday and last year at this time shows comparable ramp-ups in the fall of '20 and '21.

There's always going to be an uptick in respiratory illness this time of year, it's what winter does. That was the message from Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Public Health, who predicted the current delta spike months ago.

Importantly, and by all accounts, the symptoms and severity of the infections have been greatly reduced since the successful rollout of the vaccines. There was a nasty second wave of coronavirus-associated hospitalizations a year ago that the state is just not experiencing in Christmastime 2021. A season-high 1,243 hospital patients tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 13, 2020. A year later, 420 residents in Connecticut hospitals have the virus.

The state does not release the number of patients in hospitals with COVID-19 who were admitted for another ailment, it only tracks the number of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 while in-facility. Consequently, the actual number of patients who were admitted because they were symptomatic with the virus is almost always lower than the number hospitalized with it.

Now that the reportedly more transmissible omicron variant has been detected in Connecticut, what effect might it have on those hospitalizations?

Dr. Christopher Lehrach is the chief physician executive at Nuvance Health, which operates Danbury Hospital, New Milford Hospital, Norwalk Hospital and Sharon Hospital in Connecticut, and Northern Dutchess Hospital, Putnam Hospital and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York. He told Patch Friday that Nuvance is closely monitoring the emerging omicron variant and "will be ready to respond accordingly" as more data about it becomes available.

"We evaluate the bed capacity of our hospitals every day. Our communities can rest assured knowing we are fully prepared for potential surge scenarios, including leveraging the resources of our seven-hospital health system for continued access to medical care."

The omicron variant has snatched the headlines and coronavirus boogeyman crown from breakthrough cases, which have been mostly mild. Instead of enforcing the false narrative that the vaccine doesn't work, the breakthrough case statistics have instead illustrated how effective the vaccines have been at keeping people out of the hospital, and alive.

In 2020, 5,995 Connecticut residents died from coronavirus-associated ailments, according to DPH. So far this year, the death toll has been 2,930. In the U.S., where the immunization rate is by and large lower than Connecticut's, the number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in 2021 has surpassed the toll in 2020.

The vaccine helps in at least one other and unexpected way. A new study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine says vaccinated people who get infected are less likely to pass the virus along to the unvaccinated. The researchers found the vaccinated who came down with the virus cleared it out of their systems in 5.5 days while it took unvaccinated people 7.7 days on average.

In fact, the length of time it takes for the body to flush the virus may have played a role in omicron's genesis. One theory holds that the new variant emerged in an immunocompromised host whose weakened system allowed the pathogen to gestate for months.

"We know that delaying care during this pandemic has resulted in negative health consequences for some people," Lehrach said. "It is important to get care for illnesses and injuries if you need it, and also continue having regular preventive exams and screenings."

In the event that omicron proves itself vaccine resistant, the vaccine will need to be modified. Pfizer and Moderna have already begun that process, one made easier by the modular "building block" nature of the existing mRNA vaccines. It will take no more than 52 days from the start of the vaccine update process to the start of manufacturing. What's not yet clear is how long the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process for a coronavirus vaccine remix might be.

Instructions on how to get COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters in Connecticut are available online, as is a list of walk-up clinics sponsored by DPH.

The state has established mobile COVID-19 booster clinics at these locations:

• New Haven: New Haven Public Library, 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – No appointment needed
• Stamford: Jackie Robinson Park, 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – No appointment needed
• Trumbull: Trumbull Mall, Friday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, – No appointment needed
• Waterbury: 910 Wolcott St, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Sunday – No appointment needed
• Windsor Locks: Bradley Airport, Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. – No appointment needed.