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New Mexico anticipates COVID-19 omicron wave will peak soon, hopefully relieving state's hospitals

Las Cruces Sun-News - 1/26/2022

The crisis at New Mexico's hospitals has shifted as the omicron variant appears to be causing fewer patients to require ventilators, the state's top health official said Wednesday.

Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase spoke to reporters one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported findings that omicron-sequenced infections led less frequently to ICU care compared to previous strains — and shorter hospital stays over all.

At the same time, omicron — representing 99.5 percent of sequenced cases nationwide — is far more contagious and has driven increased hospitalizations and deaths since it was first identified in the U.S. on Dec. 1.

On Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky remarked in Washington: "Milder does not mean mild and we cannot look past the strain on our health systems and substantial number of deaths."

For the second week in a row, the New Mexico Department of Health did not stream its press briefing live, but allowed the conference to run longer than last week's shortened conference format, and permitted reporters to ask their own questions in an effort to cut down on weekly briefings that have sometimes run longer than two hours.

Scrase expressed optimism over data modeling suggesting that the omicron wave may be within days of a peak, leading to a downturn in daily cases to be followed by an easing of patient loads at the state's hospitals.

On Wednesday the state reported another increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, to 709.

Another 40 deaths were added to the official tally as well, including 15 fatalities that were more than a month old, raising the total to 6,357. The state reported 4,119 new cases Wednesday, which does not account for tests (such as home kits) that are not reported to the state. The state uses seven-day rolling averages for a more accurate picture of the virus' activity.

Nine hospitals in New Mexico have formally enacted crisis standards of care as the system deals with high numbers of COVID-19 patients in addition to higher-than-normal numbers of patients requiring treatment for other health problems.

While hospitalizations for COVID-19 have continued to climb, Scrase confirmed that the proportion of patients requiring ventilator care has fallen, providing some relief on the supply of ICU beds and resources, though he noted that pressure has increased on emergency rooms.

He emphasized the importance of booster doses following primary vaccinations for COVID-19, calling up-to-date immunity "the key to fighting COVID today."

Scrase also encouraged regular mask use in public and to "move away from cloth masks," upgrading to the highest quality mask available such as KN95 or N95 masks that fight tightly over the nose and mouth.

Another strategy he emphasized this week was staying home when one exhibits symptoms associated with COVID-19 even if a rapid test is not available: "Don't wait, isolate."

If a home test returns a positive result, Scrase said the response should be to stay home for five days for those whose vaccinations are not up to date (meaning six months have passed since a course of mRna vaccine), followed by wearing a high-quality mask around others for five more days.

For those with boosted vaccinations, Scrase said individuals need not isolate but instead wear a mask for 10 days, stressing that the risk of infection under those conditions was considered low enough.

Free test kits from the U.S. government are arriving at the homes of residents who have signed up via www.COVIDtests.gov online, and New Mexico's health department has begun distributing a million additional test kits, prioritizing areas of high social and economic vulnerability, Scrase said. The effort is to be followed by distribution of high-quality masks as well.

Adapting to SARS-CoV-2 as an endemic virus and managing COVID-19 disease as a public health risk Scrase required "a transition from government telling people what to do to individuals taking personal responsibility."

He also said making testing and even treatment, such as oral antivirals, available at home could assist in isolating positive cases and slowing spread, and that schools and workplaces should plan for outbreaks.

Among those living with COVID-19 are the so-called "long haulers" who suffer complications for months after infection.

Studies of various long-term effects, sometimes referred to as "long COVID," were still in early stages and Scrase said New Mexico had yet to determine how to define the syndrome and reliable methods of monitoring those patients, but would be watching findings of studies underway.

Scrase, who also heads the state's Human Services Department, had not observed any trend in prolonged absences from work, but said scientifically sound samples were simply not available yet.

More: Is long COVID a syndrome or a series of coronavirus complications?

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

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