PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As COVID-19 case counts continue to decline, Montgomery County health officials are hopeful the worst is behind us and some masking rules could be relaxed. But they say vaccines, boosters, and treatments remain the keys to moving forward.
Montgomery County Office of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Richard Lorraine said that as case counts drop, hospitalization totals are following the same pattern.
“They were pretty much at 100% of their capacity," said Dr. Lorraine.
"That doesn't mean that they were overwhelmed, because they have surge capacity that they've planned for. But it was pretty full."
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He says that during the omicron spike, COVID-19 hospitalizations were at or close to an all-time high, but he said case counts were about double the previous high. Hospitalizations were simultaneously up, but at a much lower percentage.
Dr. Lorraine credits vaccines, and notes how effective boosters have been.
“In the boosted population, it appears that there is perhaps somewhere around 60% prevention effect, not just preventing hospitalization and death, but actually preventing catching the disease," he said.
Dr. Lorraine said that looking forward, his hope is there is enough of both natural and vaccine-created immunity to avoid another spike, but he still encourages everyone to get vaccinated.
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He said vaccine misinformation remains a challenge, and he urges anyone with doubts or concerns to have a conversation with their healthcare provider.
He explained that vaccination with improved treatments will move us from pandemic to endemic where we learn to live with the virus in the background, managing risk by limiting, but likely never eliminating severe disease and death.
Dr. Lorraine discussed one movement forward that could come in the next month or two.
“We're projecting that sometime February into March, we will be able to go into a lower category of transmission," he said.
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Dr. Lorraine hopes that will allow authorities to relax things such as masks in schools. He said Montgomery County continues to follow CDC recommendations of masking while the level of the virus is at its current state.
But he added some schools have moved to make masks optional, in what he says describes as concerned and thoughtful conversations.
“They're trying to do their best in figuring out what's best for their students," said Dr. Lorraine.
He conveyed that better ventilation systems, better vaccinations, and better treatments all lessen the benefit of masks and the need for them, but the risk can never be reduced to zero, and that brings in controversy.
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“It's a fairly complex decision. Some people are willing to accept more risk, and some people are willing to accept less risk," said Dr. Lorraine.
"It becomes somewhat difficult when we're talking about guidelines that affect the entire population.”
Dr. Lorraine declined to discuss the Perkiomen Valley lawsuit where a federal judge ordered everyone back in masks, including during sporting events, but he said he hopes any decision is moot as by the time it comes down, he is optimistic transmission level will have dropped to “low.”
