The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Conn. has weathered COVID-19 surges for now, Yale doctor says
Despite a small uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases in Connecticut, a Yale New Haven Health doctor said Monday he believes the state has weathered the worst of the surges.
Several months past the peak of the omicron variant, cases and hospitalizations remain low, but the number of infections has risen slightly, officials said.
“We are by no means out of the pandemic and we remain ready to take care of any surges, but we are hoping we have seen the last of the surges for a while,” said Dr. Thomas Balcezak, chief clinical officer for YaleNew Haven Health.
While the BA.2 subvariant of the omicron variant has drawn concern across the country, it has not yet driven a substantial increase in infections in Connecticut. As of last week, the group conducting surveillance on variants in Connecticut said BA.2 accounted for about 60 percent of the cases they screened.
BA.2, similar to omicron, is believed to be considerably more infectious than the native strain of COVID-19.
“We are really hopeful with continued vigilance and some better weather with temperatures going up and the humidity going up, we will see less transmissions,” Balcezak said.
On Monday, the state shifted its reporting on COVID-19 metrics, moving to a seven-day average instead of a daily positivity rate. On Monday, the reported sevenday average was 4.26 percent.
The state Department of Public Health no longer requires the reporting of negative rapid antigen and rapid PCR test results for COVID-19. So the positivity rate focuses instead on positive antigen and PCR test results, along with all molecular test results.
Hospitalizations, also now reported as a change over the past seven days, were down a net of one patient since last Monday for a total of 93.
The state said this change aligns with how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report COVID-19 metrics.
Across Yale-New Haven Health’s network of hospitals, there were 38 patients recovering from COVID-19, according to CEO Christopher O’Connor. Of those patients, seven were in intensive care and three were on ventilators.
“As you have seen the numbers have continued to drop over the last month or two, we did see a slight tick up over a week ago, which seems to be consistent with what we are seeing in the testing data,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said the number of patients hospitalized Monday was a stark contrast to early January, the peak of the omicron surge, when more than 700 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across YaleNew Haven Health’s network.
While he believed another surge was unlikely in the near future, Balcezak continued to stress the importance of following key prevention measures.
“Remain vigilant, mask in large environments and be careful and try to protect your loved ones,” Balcezak said.
With booster efforts expanding in the past week to now allow those age 50 and older to get a second booster dose, Balcezak said the vaccine continues to be effective against omicron, and similarly with the BA.2 subvariant.
“The vaccine is slightly less effective against omicron, but it remains overall your best line of defense,” he said.