Benton County reported at least 42 new cases of COVID-19 over the past week, which is less than half reported from the week before, although it should be noted that the holiday may affect this number. According to the county’s COVID-19 webpage, approximately 69% of all Benton County residents aged 5-years or older are fully vaccinated.
Statewide, Oregon reported just over 6,000 new cases of the virus over the past week. This is also down almost 1,000 case reports compared to the week before and again, this could be affected by the holiday. However, that does continue the multiple weeks-long trend of decreasing case reports in the state. 100% of tested DNA samples from COVID-positive patients indicated the Delta variant is still dominant in Oregon.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least half a million cases were reported throughout the U.S. over the last week. That’s an increase compared to the previous four weeks. Approximately 59% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against the virus, and 20% of all eligible citizens have received a booster shot.
Local Pharmacies Get a Boost
The Oregon Health Authority is helping local pharmacies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and giving a boost to those still seeking a vaccine against the virus at the same time. For Oregon-owned pharmacies, OHA is planning to pay $35 for each COVID vaccine administered, which addresses staffing shortages and long lines experienced by people trying to get their medications and shots. In addition, the state aims to pay temporary employees to help ease the backlog in work and unfilled prescriptions due to a shortage of workers.
According to an article in the Statesman Journal, at least 35 Bi-Mart pharmacies closed in November. This lack of prescription access places pressure on small town clinics and people with medical diagnoses who seek treatment, and also slows the progression of Oregonians getting vaccinated against the COVID virus.
While all pharmacies in Oregon are eligible to receive payments for vaccines, only locally owned pharmacies may apply for the temporary staffing assistance program. In order to receive the $35 payment for vaccine distribution, corporate-owned and independent pharmacies alike are required to meet certain requirements. These include having informative multilingual signs, medical counseling services geared towards COVID and vaccine education, and a program in place to evaluate the pharmacy’s accessibility.
OHA hopes this assistance to both small and large-scale pharmacies will ease the tension between medical suppliers and those seeking treatments and vaccinations, and address the accumulation of unfilled prescriptions throughout the state.
New Variant of Concern: Omicron
The monitoring of a new COVID-19 variant of concern was announced by the World Health Organization on Friday. The variant, B.1.1.529, also named Omicron (which is the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet), was first identified in South Africa in early November. Since then, Omicron has been found in samples from at least 12 other countries, many of which are in Europe.
Omicron’s DNA has numerous mutations that differ from other variants currently circulating throughout the world, some of which experts are concerned may increase transmission and decrease the effectiveness of vaccines. Therefore the newly identified variant qualifies as a variant of concern, which WHO has defined as any variant that poses risk of enhanced transmissibility, results in severe illness, and/or decreases effectiveness of current public health actions.
Very little is known about this newest variant, as most patients infected with Omicron have been young and/or unvaccinated, which is not representative of a large proportion of the global population. One concerning observation noted in South Africa so far is the ability of Omicron to reinfect people who had previously been infected with COVID-19. This increased ability to reinfect people may mean Omicron is not targeted by the natural immunity people often build up after an initial infection, which also could mean the increased immunity provided by vaccines is less effective against this variant.
Medical researchers are currently racing to answer many questions about the new variant, but health officials are concerned it has surfaced just before the holidays, at the same time that many large countries have recently opened extensive international travel options.
By: Lauren Zatkos
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