COVID: Are we really out of the woods?

It has been over three years since COVID-19 shut down the world, and Quay and Roosevelt County health officials believe that while COVID isn’t necessarily gone, positive cases in the area have gone down significantly.

“There continue to be cases across the country, and in the Clovis area,” said Jason Mitchell, Chief Medical and Clinical Transformation Officer with Presbyterian Health Services. “We are seeing very few COVID-19 patients hospitalized at this time.”

Mitchell said, however, hospital staff are anticipating an increase in cases this fall as immunity wanes, because of a drop in the percentage of vaccinated individuals in the population.

Mitchell said that there have been no recent deaths at Plains Regional Medical Center.

Sarah Robinson, a Registered Nurse in infection prevention at Roosevelt General Hospital in Portales wrote in an email, “From discussions I had with other infection preventionists, the consensus seems to be, with time, COVID will be treated like we treat the flu”

She added that the federal Centers for Disease Control “may end up suggesting yearly boosters, similar to the flu shot that we already receive every year,” and even combing the vaccines annually.”

“I am very hopeful that outbreaks will be contained to small areas and that we will not see national surges like we did in 2021,” she said.

Asked about new variants that may be concerning, Robertson wrote, “So far there are no emerging variants that are exceptionally concerning. We are in a part of the year when illness overall is down, so it will be interesting to see what happens over the winter.”

New variants are always emerging, according to a CDC website. The most prominent one across the country now is called XBB.1.5, according to the CDC. XBB.1.5 has become predominant Omicron lineage variant in the U.S., accounting for an estimated 66.4% of all new cases, according to the website.

Locally, Mitchell said,“while positive COVID cases are declining, so is the number of people interested in getting the vaccine and boosters.

As of February 2023, the CDC indicates vaccine participation is at an all-time low nationwide since vaccines were rolled out in early 2021. The CDC reports that only one in six people in the United States have received an updated COVID-19 booster.

The CDC website states the updated booster vaccine has been reformulated to better protect against the most recently circulating variants, like XBB.1.5. It can also help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination.

“We are not seeing significant interest(in the vaccines) at this time in our facilities, but we want to continue to remind our community to stay up-to-date on recommended boosters when they are eligible and to plan ahead for the fall respiratory illness season,” Mitchell said.

Jeanette Orrantia, RGH director of marketing and public relations, wrote in an email, “We are still encouraging the community to keep up-to-date with all their immunizations whether it be COVID vaccine or others. This aids in keeping infections down across our community and the state.”