BA.5 gives COVID a new bite: Lorain County could go red again

COVID-19 hasn't gone away, and it's entirely possible Lorain County will go to "red" status again as soon as this week, Health Commissioner Mark Adams said Tuesday. "Blooms of infections" are being seen across the nation due to the faster-spreading BA.5 variant, he told members of the county's Community Protection Team, which meets virtually each month. BA.5 is now the dominant form of the virus in the United States. Team members such as Lorain County Metro Parks Director James Ziemnik weren't surprised by the analysis. He said his staff is being affected more by COVID now than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic. "We're getting hit with it, like everybody," he said. Those who test positive are quarantining, which has made it a challenge to keep some programs rolling, Ziemnik said. Other park workers are back to carrying and frequently wearing masks. In the business community, it's once again become common to hear about people being out of the office due to a COVID diagnosis, said Lorain County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Gallo, who called the trend "a little scary." The Lorain Public Library system is seeing more requests for home COVID tests and giving out about 600 per month, according to a report from Director Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz. Adams said the pandemic is "still a fluctuating situation," and hopes it would be reclassified as endemic have been pushed off. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have Lorain County at yellow alert on a national map assessing counties by changes in cases, hospitalizations and death. Nearly 500 active cases and 37 new hospital admissions have been reported in Lorain County as of the week ending July 14, the most recent update to the agency's map, which is updated weekly on Thursdays. Even in urban centers, Ohio is faring decently, the CDC map shows. Several more rural counties have been elevated to red alert status, though: Montgomery, Greene, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Muskingham, Guernsey and Noble counties are all having outbreaks. The farther into Appalachia and the South you travel, the more prevalent COVID problems are, according to the CDC. Florida is nearly solid red again, and the West Coasts is fighting the same battle. The situation could change rapidly in Lorain County, Adams warned — he said after the Protection Team meeting that he fears it could tip into red status as soon as today. Previously, outbreaks rose gradually and then sloped off slowly, he said. But BA.5 doesn't behave the same way — viral load quickly spikes and wanes. To track how much virus is circulating the community, health experts test sewage. Two weeks ago, there was very little COVID-19 found in samples, but the virus tripled in the space of the past week, Adams said. The good news is that hospitalizations and deaths are not following the same pattern. Only 3.1 percent of Lorain County hospital beds are being used by COVID patients right now, according to the CDC. The vast majority of those experiencing major complications, including hospitalization, are unvaccinated, Adams said. In the next week or two, boosters are likely to be opened to all age groups, Adams said. There are also new vaccines on the way, he said — likely to be distributed this fall, they will be delivered nasally. Adams said he believes skeptics who resisted COVID shots will be more likely to use the nasal vaccines. The bad news is that immunity offered by previous COVID infections isn't as strong when it comes to fending off BA.5, he said. That means people can and in some cases are getting sick from the variant multiple times in relatively quick succession. "The vaccines are still proving to be very safe, much safer than trying to get it naturally and get some immunity," he told the Community Protection Team. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, Ohio has recorded 2.8 million cases, more than 120,000 hospitalizations and just shy of 39,000 deaths and climbing. The United States is averaging 122,639 new cases every day, for a total of 89.3 million since the start of the pandemic, according to the CDC. It tracks an average of 5,762 new hospital admissions every day. There are 21,648 beds nationwide being used by COVID patients. There are also 336 COVID deaths per day on average. The cumulative nationwide death toll sits at 1,019,210. The World Health Organization has counted nearly 559.5 million cases across the globe to date, and 6.36 million deaths. As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, it had recorded 377,203 new COVID-19 cases in the prior 24 hours. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.