Port Jervis Covid-19 Infection Rate Soars Above County's

 “The current infection rate is the second highest of the pandemic,” said infectious disease specialist Doug Manion.

A casual conversation with a New Jersey respiratory therapist took a dark turn while we waited in a car repair shop recently. Her job includes caring for intubated Covid-19 patients on respirators until they can breathe on their own—or removing the tubes when they die. Lately she has done too much of the latter, she said, as infections have escalated. Nor are the dead necessarily elderly. Many are much younger.

Occasionally a vaccinated person shows up, but they are neither as sick nor as numerous as the unvaccinated, she said. She recalled patients who had made YouTube videos opposing vaccines, but in their last video they encouraged people to get vaccinated.

 “The current infection rate is the second highest of the pandemic,” said infectious disease specialist Doug Manion, of Milford. “Infections are rising all over the U.S., increasing 5% per day, at 108,000 new cases daily. We don’t have herd immunity because not enough are vaccinated.”

Orange County has a 61% vaccination rate, with an overall infection rate of 415 per 100,000 in a recent seven-day period. But Port Jervis, with only 47.7% vaccinated, had more than double that infection rate, at 1110 per 100,000 in those seven days, according to Justin Rodriguez, Orange County public information officer.

Meanwhile, a recent New York State Department of Health study confirmed the effectiveness of vaccines.

 “In the final, peer-reviewed study published in the December 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, NYS DOH researchers conclude that vaccine effectiveness against hospitalizations remains high and that modest declines in vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infections may be due more to the Delta variant and declining preventive behaviors, like mask wearing, than waning immunity after vaccination,” according to a health department press release. So wearing masks continues to be useful, even when vaccinated.

 Meanwhile, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has begun spreading in the U.S. It was first noticed when someone apparently picked it up at a New York City anime conference, but it had appeared elsewhere in the U.S. previously, Manion said. He noted that, with 30 mutations on Omicron’s spike protein, immunity developed in response to other Covid-19 variants is less effective.

British study results in the last few days indicate that vaccine protection against symptomatic Omicron infection is significantly lower than with previous Covid variants after two vaccine doses. But a BioNTech booster shot increased protection from infection to about 75%, and protection from hospitalization is expected to be greater. Moderna is still completing booster shot studies and also working on a booster to more specifically protect against Omicron and other variants. The new booster is expected to be available early in 2022, according to a Moderna investor publication.

“In South Africa, people who had been infected with previous variants were readily infected with Omicron,” Manion said, countering the notion that previous Covid-19 infections protect. “It’s more dangerous if you’re not vaccinated. Boosters are now recommended for all adults.”

According to the CDC, any immunity gained from previous infection with Covid-19 can be brief, while vaccines provide broader, longer lasting immunity.    

Manion pointed out that two weeks was all that scientists needed to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, but then determining its efficacy and safety took many months of animal, then human testing. New versions can also be developed quickly, once a variant virus’s structure is known, he said.

Community news needs community support to continue. Please consider the various Tri-State Lookout subscription levels.