What to know about Merck’s pill
Each week, Chronicle health reporters field questions about the latest on COVID-19, vaccines and pandemic living. In this week’s COVID Help Desk, we detail the latest in elective surgeries at Houston area hospitals, what you should know about a new pill to treat COVID, how to safely travel during the holidays and whether Texas is on the other side of the delta variant wave.
Are elective surgeries back in the Houston area?
Elective surgeries that were postponed at Houston-area hospitals during the peak of the COVID delta variant surge are being rescheduled now, according to officials at Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, Baylor St. Luke’s, University of Texas Medical Branch and Harris Health System.
Most of Memorial Hermann’s facilities are operating on a full surgical schedule, said Dr.
James McCarthy, chief physician executive for the hospital system.
“When we are delaying electives, there are some we push off a little further — maybe a week or 10 days — to give us a bit of a buffer and cushion to work through those (high COVID) volumes,” McCarthy said. “There was a little over a twoweek period where we were impacted with elective surgeries, especially at some of our campuses in the north that were hit hard.”
All Houston Methodist hospitals are allowing elective surgeries, but due to a backlog of cases, patients may experience a delay in scheduling, said
Cathy Williamson, vice president of operations.
UTMB facilities are open for elective cases and are rescheduling any that were postponed in the previous two months, said Dr. Timothy Harlin, executive vice president and CEO of the hospital system.
Though there has been a 50 percent decline in COVID hospitalizations from the peak of the delta surge, Harlin said officials are seeing more non-COVID admissions — possibly due to coming in. He said it’s possible some of these cases are because of a delay in needed care.
More elective cases are being scheduled now but throughout the latest surge, the system continued to perform outpatient surgeries at its ambulatory surgical center, said Bryan McLeod, director of communications.
At Baylor St. Luke’s, COVID patients and other urgent procedures continue to be prioritized, so each elective procedure is considered case-by-case, said spokeswoman Vanessa Astros.
What do I need to know about Merck’s new COVID pill?
Pharmaceutical company Merck soon will ask U.S. and global health officials to authorize use for an experimental pill — called molnupiravir — to treat people who are already sick with COVID.
Clinical trials show the pill reduced COVID hospitalizations and deaths by half, said Dr. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist.
If cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the pill, which works similarly to the way antibiotics treat a patient with pneumonia, would be the first easy-to-take pill for COVID treatment.
“It’s good to have an effective oral agent to help keep people out of the hospital — that’s fantastic,” Long said. “But the vaccine is more effective than that, and it’s free.”
Still, with 50 percent effectiveness, Long called the pill a “coin flip,” and hopes people will opt for the vaccine.
In the Merck study, the pill or a placebo was given to 775 highrisk adults with mild-to-moderate COVID. The results haven’t been reviewed by outside experts, according to the Associated Press, but were considered so promising that a group of medical experts monitoring the Merck trial recommended stopping it early.
How can I celebrate safely this holiday season?
People should feel safe enough to spend this holiday season with their families if everyone is vaccinated or they wear a mask while indoors, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“I encourage people, particularly the vaccinated people who are protected, to have a good, normal Christmas with your family,” Fauci said last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted, then removed, a series of guidelines for the holiday season on its website last week. Before the guidelines’ removal, many suggested opting for virtual events in lieu of in-person gatherings.
The agency’s travel recommendations have remained the same, however: Vaccinated travelers need not test or selfquarantine before travel unless specified by the destination state or the country.
If anyone in the vacation group is not fully vaccinated, the CDC recommends delaying travel until everyone has had at least two shots of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna or one shot of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccines. If children are in the travel party, wear masks in public places and indoor areas.
Once you arrive at your destination, monitor yourself for symptoms, and isolate yourself and find a COVID test if you develop any.
Are we past the delta variant wave?
McCarthy is hopeful Houston is past the worst part of the delta variant surge though the virus continues to spread.
Memorial Hermann’s facilities peaked with 1,000 COVID hospitalizations in one day in September, according to hospital spokesperson George Kovacik.
In the Houston area, 1,731 people were hospitalized Tuesday with COVID-19, according to the Department of State Health Services. That’s slightly less than half the number seen on Aug. 24, when the area peaked at 3,500 hospitalizations.
The delta wave had the greatest peak of hospitalizations for Memorial Hermann, Kovacik said. Those high numbers remained steady in August before slowly declining in late September.
Jennifer Kiger, COVID-19 division director for Harris County Public Health, said the area is not out of the wave yet. But it’s on the right path.
“We hope the decline in case rate and hospitalizations continues, but we will be vigilant for other variants and diseases,” Kiger said. “We didn’t see much flu last year, but we anticipate it will be different this year with current environment we’re in.”
A fifth COVID wave is inevitable because of the gatherings during the holiday season, football season and cooler weather, McCarthy said. But Memorial Hermann doctors remain optimistic that the next wave will be less severe because more people are vaccinated.
In Texas, 62.27 percent of eligible residents — those 12 and older — are fully vaccinated, according to DSHS.
“We’re optimistic with the significant number of vaccinated individuals now, boosters being made available for those at high risk and a growing level of natural immunity,” McCarthy said. “We’re not worried that hospitalizations will get as high as it was in the last wave.”