Officials: COVID ‘here to stay’
With state’s virus deaths on the rise again, doctors warn to take precautions for holiday gatherings
Two state health officials suggested Wednesday that the coronavirus is here to stay, and people will have to adjust and live with it. The blunt assessments came during a Zoom news conference featuring Dr. Laura Parajon, deputy secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health, and Dr. Christine Ross, state epidemiologist.
Their comments made it clear that with its ability to mutate, COVID-19 has the potential to plague society for a long time. The good news, they said, is that science continues to create weapons to fight the disease.
One of those weapons is a Pfizer pill approved by the federal government Wednesday that newly infected coronavirus patients can take with the hope of modifying symptoms and staying out of the hospital. Parajon and Ross also said rapid home tests for the disease can help reduce the number of people walking around in public with the coronavirus.
They made similar statements about how long the world will have to cope with variants of the disease. “I think that’s what we’re seeing, right, is that COVID is here to stay,” Parajon said. She said it differs from influenza “because it’s much more deadly … but we do have to learn to live with it.”
Ross supported Parajon in that analysis.
“It appears that we’re not going to see the virus contained or eradicated, and so we will have to continue to learn how to live with it,” Ross said.
Administering vaccinations globally is vital in determining “what sort of normalcy we can get back to,” she said.
Coronavirus death statistics in New Mexico provide little comfort. The state’s epidemiology reports show that 99 people in the state died in the 14 days ending Monday. Those numbers are rising to a level last seen early in the year.
And coronavirus deaths have probably been undercounted in New
Mexico, Ross said, because those numbers rely strictly on death certificate data in which coronavirus is listed as the cause of or major contributor to the death.
Physicians and those certifying deaths sometimes are unaware that there had been coronavirus symptoms, Ross said.
“So the question is, are we undercounting? And I would say likely, yes,” she said.
Ross said that as of Wednesday afternoon, only one case involving the omicron variant had been found in the state. Many other states have reported being swamped with the variant.
“We have several more cases that we are investigating,” Ross said. “So it’s possible we have a few more cases to report out.” She said there is a lag between a positive coronavirus test and transporting that specimen to a laboratory capable of doing genomic sequencing.
She said the delta variant continues to dominate in New Mexico, but that some modeling based on data indicate omicron eventually will make up 70 percent to 90 percent of cases in the region.
Parajon said it’s not necessary to completely shut down during the holidays if people observe guidelines.
Those include getting vaccinations and booster shots; keeping air flowing by opening windows; having outdoor activities during at least a portion of a party; keeping one’s distance from others when getting and eating food, as well as when opening gifts; not going out if one has symptoms; avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated places; and taking the standard precautions such as washing hands regularly, wearing a mask that fits well and getting tested if symptomatic or after having been in contact with a person who tests positive.
By Wednesday, only one case involving the omicron variant had been found in the state.