That early morning chill that has brought blankets out of storage is one sign that seasons are changing. Another is postings from local health departments that we’re moving into cold, flu and COVID season. Yes. There’s a new COVID variant on its way, in fact, it’s already here.
While we have learned how deadly a virus can be—the pandemic taught us volumes—public health officials don’t think this new variant will have anywhere near the impact of COVID-19. It brought the nation to its knees, upending American life, everything from education to the economy.
Over a period of two-plus years beginning in 2020, the pandemic killed more than a million Americans and another estimated 15 million worldwide. It also left millions of others with long-term health issues. It’s no time to panic, said Pueblo County’s Alicia Solis, but it would be wise to be paying attention.
“All of the information I have received,” said Solis, Pueblo County’s Program Manager in the office of Communicable Disease and Emergency and Response, “(says)we are in pretty good standing.” The communicable disease specialist, however, stops well short of even hinting we’re in the clear. In fact, Solis suggests going back to best practices of the pandemic.
“Wash your hands regularly, wear masks and disinfect surfaces,” just to be safe, she suggests. Also, when a vaccine becomes available, give serious consideration to getting it.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends the vaccine for everyone six months of age and above.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment recorded slightly more than 63.000 cases of COVID-19 in Pueblo County with 900 deaths. There were 14,502 deaths statewide. Solis said the majority of COVID deaths were “older adults.”
No county escaped the wrath of COVID. Alamosa County, the nerve center of the San Luis Valley, also took the viruses best shot. The county, with a population of just over 16,000 reported 6,080 cases of covid and 69 deaths.
While life has pretty much returned to normal in this country, COVID is still very much an everyday reality. The new virus, christened Eris by the CDC, has accounted for 21 percent of all current U.S. COVID cases as of early September. In all, nine U.S. states have become landing points for the new variant, including Colorado.
Solis, a fifth generation Puebloan., cautions against anyone thinking that the new variant portends anything close to the COVID era. Still, she remembers well feeling a bit uncertain about things when reports began trickling in about a previously unknown virus from China.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” the public health official said. In late November 2019, she recalled, there were reports about “a new emerging virus.” In short order, she began reading that the still unidentified virus “was getting closer.” Just as world health agencies began counting cases globally—around March—Pueblo got its first case. “What we didn’t know is what direction it would take.” Soon, her city and the whole country would find out.
Currently, the Food and Drug Administration is working with vaccine manufacturers to ensure the new shot meets all safety requirements but there has been no announced date when it will be available to the public.
While health experts are hoping for a release date that beats the arrival of cold and flu season—usually mid-November—its arrival date remains unknown.
One big reason for the concern is that the shot’s effectiveness doesn’t usually take hold for two weeks after inoculation. But working in the public’s favor, say doctors, is that many, if not most Americans, are heading into the cold and flu season with a degree of immunity from previous covid vaccinations.
The county’s efforts at getting citizens vaccinated did not go as well as it would have liked, said Solis. Sites set up for vaccinations had Army and local law enforcement personnel nearby. Their presence, she said, “deterred a lot of people from getting vaccinated…we began giving (shots) in smaller places.” Ultimately, the department would have liked to have reached more people.
When the vaccine for the new variant does become available, Solis said that one element of the plan for getting shots into people’s arms is to create sites in “smaller places,” even going to where people work and “giving them to employees.”
