Health officials urge residents to be cautious as omicron approaches East Texas

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, December 8, 2021

As the omicron variant of COVID-19 makes its way across the state, East Texas health officials and hospitals are on their toes in preparation and also encouraging residents to be mindful and cautious.

The first case of the omicron variant was detected in Harris County on Monday, according to Texas Department of State Health Services. The person is fully vaccinated with no recent travel history. The variant is also present in Houston’s wastewater, the Houston Health Department announced Monday.

As of Wednesday, 19 states in the United States have reported a case of the omicron variant. Smith County Health Authority Dr. Paul McGaha said it will undoubtedly be detected in the East Texas area at some point in coming weeks.

“I think it’s not a matter of if but when we detect it in Texas,” he said.

McGaha said omicron differs from the delta variant in that it is potentially more transmissible because of mutations. He added public officials are studying the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in regards to the variant.

“It is anticipated that the vaccine should work at least partially against omicron,” McGaha said.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention says omicron will likely spread more easily than the original COVID virus, but how easily in spreads in comparison to the delta variant is unknown.

“Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths due to infection with the omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated are likely to occur,” the CDC said on its website. “With other variants, like delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.”

Boosters are available for anyone over 18. McGaha said he encourages the third dose, as it can amplify antibodies and immunity. He also encouraged unvaccinated East Texans to get the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

McGaha added the omicron cases seen in those unvaccinated have also been milder in general.

“There’s a lot we don’t know about omicron. There’s a lot of research going on related to it,” said McGaha.

Because omicron may be more transmissible, social distancing and mask wearing is encouraged as a precautionary measure.

Dr. Tom Cummins of UT Health East Texas said the hospital system is responding the same way it has responded to other COVID-19 variants, but healthcare workers are still dealing with the last wave of the delta variant.

“We’re still dealing with delta patients and continued hospitalizations for some critically ill COVID patients in general. It’s never gone away completely,” he said.

Cummins added hospitalization numbers and positivity rates of the virus at UT Health have risen over the last few weeks. He said the hospital will expand if needed and contract as they can.

“If you observe how that’s been adopted in the community, people have dropped their guard a lot regarding masking and social distancing. We don’t want it to be a fertile field for spread in our area, so people need to consider that,” McGaha said, adding it is too early to tell if omicron will crowd out the delta variant.

In Europe, people are seeing a new surge in cases primarily due to the delta variant, McGaha said, especially Eastern Europe, and even in some countries that have a 75% vaccination rate. In Texas, state data shows the overall vaccination rate is about 60%. In Smith County, it’s about 46% and about 47% in Gregg County.

“We’re not even near that 75% in some European countries. The moral of that story is that even with 25% of individuals in the community not vaccinated, that’s enough for delta to surge again. All the talk is about omicron, but we can’t forget delta. It can still cause a lot of issues if we’re not careful,” McGaha said.

Traditional symptoms for the flu and for COVID are similar, McGaha said, which is why it’s important to get the flu and COVID vaccines to avoid both. Anyone who has a high fever, cough and nasal stuffiness beyond what they would feel like with a normal cold should get a COVID test, which is now available at local pharmacies and stores. People can also get tested in physician offices for the flu.

The CDC says more data is needed to know if omicron infections, and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated, cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants.

Cummins said most reports show people with the omicron variant are less symptomatic, which he called great for not needing hospitalization but nerve-wracking if people think they only have a head cold. Those patients then likely won’t get tested for COVID, which leads to confusion for healthcare workers to know what they’re dealing with. He encouraged masking up in public and to get vaccinated as the single best line of protection.

“In abundance of caution, we’re sort of planning for the worst, hoping for the best. Scientists are taking those precautions and public health officials are taking those precautions to really be watchful and utilize masking, social distancing, booster vaccinations, et cetera,” McGaha said.

Dr. Lewis Browne, Gregg County public health authority, encouraged East Texans to get vaccinated.

“The only answer is vaccination, and also making sure you protect yourself as far as around people that are sick. But unless people want to go to mask mandates and wear a mask all the time, the best thing to do is to get the vaccine and it will protect you most likely,” he said.

McGaha said hopefully in the end, the omicron variant will not be more infectious and will not evade vaccination. He said time will tell in the next several weeks.

The COVID-19 vaccine could eventually be like the flu vaccine as time progresses, McGaha said, but the future is unclear.

“Will we have to get a fourth one later on, next year? We just don’t know. That’s the nature of this virus. It’s constantly changing, and hopefully it will settle down to where we can have, maybe like the influenza vaccine once a year. We just don’t know that yet,” McGaha said.

The CDC said its scientists are working with partners to gather data and virus samples that can be studied to answer important questions about omicron and experiments have already begun.