County rates remain stable
World marks third year of pandemic
As the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic passed over the weekend, Monterey County's case, test, and hospitalization rates seem to be stable with all three showing slight declines from last week. But the virus which has killed almost 7 million people worldwide is still a part of daily life and has the potential to evolve into something more threatening.
“New variants emerging anywhere threaten us everywhere,” said virus researcher Thomas Friedrich of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an Associated Press story. “Maybe that will help people to understand how connected we are.”
According to the Monterey County Department of Public Health, the county's COVID-19 seven-day average case rate on
Monday was 4.4 per 100,000, down from 5.2 per 100,000 last week. The county's test-positivity rate was 8.2%, down from 8.7% a week ago. Hospitalizations numbered 25, down from 29 last week, and total deaths in the county from COVID-19 number 829, up two from a week ago.
A month ago, the Monterey County Department of Public Health reported the county's COVID-19 seven-day average case rate was 6.1 per 100,000, its test-positivity rate was 9.1%, hospitalizations numbered 18, and total deaths in Monterey County from COVID-19 stood at 821.
Last Saturday marked three years since the World Health Organization first called the outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and the United Nation's health organization said it is not yet ready to say the emergency has ended, according to the AP story.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is constantly changing and accumulating mutations in its genetic code over time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New variants of SARSCoV-2 are expected to continue
to emerge. Some variants will emerge and disappear, while others will emerge and continue to spread and may replace previous variants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in the region that includes California, the COVID-19 omicron XBB.1.5 sub-variant continues to dominate with 89.3% of cases, followed by BQ.1.1 accounting for 6.1%, BQ.1 with 1.6%, XBB with 1.4% and CH.1.1 accounting for 0.6% of infections in Region 9 which includes California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau.
A month ago, the COVID-19 omicron XBB.1.5 sub-variant dominated with 56.9% of cases, followed by BQ.1.1 accounting for 24.9% of cases, BQ.1 with 10.0%, XBB with 4.0%, and CH.1.1 accounting for 1.5% of infections in Region 9.
The COVID-19 omicron subvariants are more contagious and may cause a somewhat milder infection, but they have the ability to evade immunity conferred by past infection or
vaccination, and are not completely harmless for everyone, particularly those who are unvaccinated who are still at risk for severe illness, hospitalization, or death.
Increases in infections are most likely due to a combination of two factors: increased transmissibility and the ability of the variant to evade immunity conferred by past infection or vaccination.
Of those Monterey County individuals 5 years of age and older who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, 90.1% have received at least one dose and 81.4% have completed their primary series, but only 19.3% have received an updated bivalent booster dose.
Vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. People who are up to date on vaccines, including booster doses when eligible are likely to have stronger protection against COVID-19 variants, including omicron. The CDC recommends everyone eligible get vaccinated and a booster shot.
During January, unvaccinated people were 2.9 times