Despite new COVID variants being less deadly, the transition from pandemic to endemic may not happen for quite some time. As Louisiana State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter told me, there’s still plenty of concern as the two last sub-variants are quickly becoming the dominant strand. Dr. Kanter also says the public cannot be hesitant about getting a booster shot as so many were hesitant about getting vaccinated in the first place.
Doc, the CDC is reporting that two new variants, BA.4 and BA.5 are eroding into BA.2’s dominance. Also, Louisiana is among five states where 30% of COVID positive cases are the new variants. Is that what the state’s data is revealing as well?
It is. Normally, when these variants come across the country, Louisiana tends to be behind the curve, but that's not the case with these two variants nationally. BA.4 and BA.5 account for about 21% of all new COVID being spread right now. In Louisiana and the surrounding states it's upwards of 30%. The good news is that they really don't appear to be any more virulent. The cases we're seeing now continue on average to be very mild. While there’s an increase in cases, hospitals are not being overwhelmed, and hospitalizations are still rather low.
Any concern on your part as population immunity diminishes as we get further and further away from shots? I understand the number of folks getting boosters is not as strong as before.
The lack of people getting boosters is my biggest concern right now. I know people are probably fatigued about hearing about new variants, but they’re going to be popping up over the next few years. 65% of adults 18 and over in this state are fully vaccinated, but less than half of them have been boosted. I think that's the biggest number to keep in mind as we look towards protection from these new variants.
One of the best things about wastewater surveillance is that it's really non-invasive. The technology is not terribly new. There's been isolated wastewater surveillance efforts for years. I think what happened with COVID is it just really illustrated how powerful of a surveillance tool it can be. It's not contingent on having big testing sites. It's a relatively low investment for a lot of gain. You can really get a head start on surveillance by doing more wastewater testing.
