Omicron still dominant variant in New Mexico
Health officials announce expanded availability of monkeypox vaccine
Except for mildly worrisome trends in the counties of Hidalgo, Catron, Otero and Rio Arriba, “generally, the picture with respect to COVID is encouraging,” Dr. David Scrase, human services and acting health secretary, told reporters during last week’s monthly COVID-19 press update. Health officials also announced an end to the monkeypox vaccine shortage and advised state residents of a trending rise in syphilis cases in newborns.
“We had a little red flag go up this week in the metro area; [COVID-19] case counts are starting to rise again,” Scrase said. “If we see anything that’s a significant trend over the next week or two, we’ll certainly make you all aware of that.”
COVID-19 community risk levels remain low in most New Mexico counties, including Taos County and Bernalillo County. Scrase said rates of hospitalization, now the key statistical indicator used by epidemiologists to determine the threat posed by COVID-19 in any given region, have continued to plateau. As of Oct. 3, 92 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 across New Mexico, just 5.4 percent of whom required ventilation.
“I get a lot of questions about case counts-over-time, and just to reiterate something we talked about a lot in January and February, we really have switched away from focusing on case counts and [are] focusing more on hospitalizations and deaths,” Scrase said. “Because the change in the severity of the virus means that 1,000 cases of Delta will cause way more hospitalizations and deaths than 1,000 cases of the BA.5 [Omicron subvariant]. So we’re keeping a closer eye on hospitalizations and deaths.”
Scrase encouraged every New Mexican to seek out the Omicron booster vaccine and the annual influenza vaccine. He noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending this year that elderly people request “the high dose influenza vaccine.”
“We’re up to about 70,000 [Omicron] boosters in the first four weeks of administration,” Scrase continued. “And we were not predicting a giant ramp up like we saw with the original vaccine. We were predicting a curve that was more of a gradual rise like we’ve seen more recently with children’s vaccines, and this is pretty much conforming to our expectations.
“I would never recommend anything to you all that I wouldn’t do for myself,” Scrase added. “And
since I’ve already done it for myself, I feel really comfortable recommending [the Omicron booster] to all of you.”
Dr. Laura Parajon, deputy health secretary and acting state epidemiologist, joined Scrase for last week’s press conference, updating reporters on monkeypox, the vaccine for which just became more-widely available.
“Originally, we had a shortage of the vaccine; so the main people who were vaccinated was anyone who had contact in the past 14 days with someone who had been diagnosed with monkeypox,” Parajon said. “But we have expanded the [availability of] preventative doses for anybody who’s at risk for getting monkeypox but who don’t have symptoms.”
Parajon emphasized that, although anyone can become infected with monkeypox through close contact with an infected person, a majority of confirmed infections are still among “men who have sex with men, and transgender and non-gender conforming persons who have other risk factors. The most common risk factor is really having a new male sexual partner in the last month, or having multiple partners in the last year.”
The expanded eligibility requirements for the monkeypox vaccine mean it is also now far easier for sex workers or certain immunocompromised individuals, for example, to become immunized.
As of Oct. 5, 46 cases of monkeypox had been reported across the state, a majority of which were in Bernalillo County. Two people required hospitalization after becoming infected. No one has died from monkeypox in New Mexico, but two deaths have been reported among the now-26,194 people who have been infected with monkeypox across the United States.
“We really want to get the word out so that people know that if you’re in a high-risk category, you can go ahead and get vaccinated to prevent monkeypox. Also, anyone who’s currently using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, also known as PrEP, or those who have been diagnosed with syphilis or gonorrhea in the last year, are also encouraged to get their vaccine — as well as anyone who engages in sex work. Anyone in that category, please come and get vaccinated.”
Parajon went on to note that syphilis rates among newborns in New Mexico and the nation are trending in a worrisome direction. According to CDC national data, there were 2,148 cases of congenital syphilis reported in the U.S. in 2020, along with 149 congenital syphilis-related stillbirths and infant deaths; in New Mexico, 42 babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2020.
“We must talk, test and immediately treat those who test positive for syphilis with penicillin to prevent the transmission,” Parajon said.
Scrase again reminded New Mexicans who receive food assistance benefits to be prepared to submit renewal applications starting this month to keep their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits active. Throughout most of the pandemic, renewal requirements for SNAP benefits had been waived. Now, Human Services Department officials fear that many of the 494,620 SNAP recipients may be unaware of the return to renewal requirements for the program.
In Taos County, 27.3 percent of residents receive supplemental food benefits, slightly above the state average of 26.1 percent. In the most SNAP-reliant county, Sierra County, 51 percent of the population relies on food assistance benefits, while just 3.3 percent of Harding County’s small population are signed up for the program.
Scrase said the pandemic-era suspension of renewal requirements for Medicaid will also soon end at the federal level.
“As we get final word from the federal government about the wind down of the public health emergency at the national level, that’s when the changes to Medicaid will kick in,” Scrase said. “We’ll keep you very informed about those as well.”