Ochsner: Omicron spreading quickly; vaccines offer protection

Omicron is rapidly becoming the dominant COVID-19 variant across the country and is becoming more common in Louisiana as well, two Ochsner Health experts said Tuesday in an update for reporters.
The best protections against the new threat, they said, are the familiar methods: vaccination, including boosters, along with masks and lots of hand-washing.
Also, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday extended the public health emergency order related to COVID-19, including a provision allowing all state government agencies to require mask-wearing.
Conducting Ochsner’s Zoom briefing Tuesday were Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, Ochsner Health’s medical director for infectious disease control and prevention, and Dawn Pevey, RN, CEO of Ochsner’s Centers of Excellence and Service Lines.
Ochsner operates Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City.
Only a month has passed since omicron began to raise warning flags in southern Africa.
“Unfortunately,” Baumgarten said, “over the past month we’ve seen omicron become the dominant variant.”
Seventy-three percent of the new viral samples that have been sequenced nationwide are now the omicron variety, Baumgarten said. The percentage of sequenced samples in Louisiana identified as omicron grew from 2% to 32% in a week.
COVID hospitalizations remain at relatively low levels. Ochsner had 78 patients in its hospitals Tuesday for COVID treatment. Statewide, the Louisiana Office of Public Health reported 265 COVID hospitalizations Tuesday, up from 207 Friday.
At the peak of the fourth COVID wave in late summer, more than 1,000 COVID patients were in Ochsner hospitals, and more than 3,000 people were hospitalized statewide.
In Ochsner’s Bayou Region, which includes Ochsner St. Mary, four COVID patients were hospitalized Tuesday.
Omicron doesn’t appear to carry the kind of ramped-up severity that the delta variant displayed during the fourth wave that began in mid-summer. But that doesn’t mean people with conditions that make them vulnerable to COVID-19 should take the new variant lightly, according to Baumgarten.
Vaccinations with the recommended boosters raise the level of protection against COVID-19, Baumgarten said. The protection offered by the two-shot Pfizer vaccine increases 25-fold with a booster and 37-fold for those who received the two-shot Moderna vaccination followed by the booster.
“We do know the vaccines work,” Baungarten said.
The OPH reports that St. Mary’s vaccination rate is just less than 42%.
In Ochsner facilities, “we’re seeing a slight increase in the number of vaccinations,” Baumgarten said. “But it’s not enough.”
The advice from Baumgarten and Pevey as the holidays approach:
—Stay home if you are not feeling well. While no one wants to miss out on treasured holiday time with their families, people who are not feeling well should stay home. “We encourage people to take an at-home rapid test which you can find at major retailers. Whether or not you test positive for COVID, it is safer for everyone if you stay home when not feeling well,” according to a meeting recap from Ochsner.
— Get vaccinated if you’re not, and get the booster if you are.
—Mask up and celebrate outside. Take precautions, mask up indoors and avoid large group gatherings indoors. “You don’t need a mandate to wear a mask,” Ochsner said. “This weekend will be a warm southern Christmas, so take your celebration outdoors.”
The extended emergency order from Edwards means state agencies in the cabinet will begin requiring masks of employees and visitors.
“Now more than ever it is important that everyone get vaccinated or, if they are eligible, take a COVID booster,” Edwards said in a press release. “The vaccines are safe, effective and widely available all across Louisiana, and we know from the most recent CDC data that unvaccinated people are ten times more likely to test positive for COVID and 20 times more likely to die from COVID than fully vaccinated people who also have gotten their booster shots.
“Simply put, one of the riskiest things you can be in Louisiana right now is unvaccinated. You’re signing up for the potential of severe illness, hospitalization or something even worse. We have seen how previous COVID surges have torn through our state and none of us wants to go back to the days of August and September, when thousands of people were hospitalized and dying.”