Omicron Variant In SE Nebraska

By Gordon HopkinsOn November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified a new variant of the virus, dubbed omicron, as a “Variant of Concern.” The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Nebraska Public Health Solutions (PHS) District, and the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) have now detected six cases of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 among district residents.The PHS District includes Jefferson, Saline, Gage, Fillmore and Thayer Counties.PHS did not identify in which counties the six cases were found. PHS Director Kim Showalter explained, “Due to the low population in our very rural counties, we’re not going to do anything that could possibly identify these cases. So this is a district wide report.”According to PHS, the first case was likely exposed during international travel to Nigeria, returned on November 23, and began showing symptoms the next day.The patient self-identified their travel history, sought testing, and alerted PHS. A team from PHS investigated and coordinated testing for sequencing to identify a variant, and sequencing was rapidly completed through NPHL. Dr. Peter Iwen and Dr. Baha Abdalhamid at NPHL identified the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 using the Clear Labs next generation whole genome sequencer and the identification was made available for public health response immediately.Showalter also noted, “The remaining five cases were likely exposed to the first case, through close household contact. I’d like to report, thankfully, none of the cases have required hospitalization. I would consider the cases to be mild to moderate. Most of them are on the recovery end and will be back up and running soon. Of the six individuals that we identified this variant, one was fully vaccinated, and the remaining five were not.”Case investigations and contact tracing are ongoing.PHS held a conference call on Friday, December 3, to provide additional information.How Omicron DiffersJosue Gutierrez, Medical Director for PHS, urged calm: “I know that we have had quite a bit of a trip with COVID. But the omicron variant, we still don’t know much about it. But in all of this, I would like everyone to still keep calm. It’s a perfect time to get the vaccines, for everyone, even the boosters, as well as continue doing the masking, continue social distancing. We don’t want to have anyone get too scared about this. We still don’t know a lot about this virus and every time something new comes on, a lot of things can be put out in the media, scaring people at times, but this is not one of those cases. We’re still studying a lot of these things, and we will let everyone know as soon as we can, what we know about this.”Dr. Gutierrez was asked about the severity of omicron, compared to other versions of the virus.“It’s a little premature to make that assessment just yet,” said Gutierrez,”Because we still have a lot of data to go through, how we are still unsure how this virus will affect individuals with chronic diseases, younger individuals, older individuals, all that is being studied. And there’s a team of international scientists working together, trying to get all this data together.”Showalter concurred, “There really has not been enough cases to know exactly what it looks like.”Identifying VariantsThere are a number of different COVID-19 variants. Currently, the dominant variant in the United States is called Delta. Genomic sequencing is used by scientists to identify SARS-CoV-2 and monitor how it changes over time into new variants and understand how these changes affect the characteristics of the virus.Showalter emphasized the importance of cooperating with PHS to identify and track cases, “I also want to thank the initial case, individuals who self reported this international travel to us by calling us. That allowed us to jump into action very quickly and get everyone tested and get this figured out really at an amazingly quick pace.”Showalter said, “Not every case of COVID gets sequencing for variants. So this is why we rely on people to report to us. Because we knew the travel history, we right away called DHHS and said, we have an international traveler to Africa. Can we get these tests sequenced right away? So not every case in Nebraska is sequenced for every variant. So that’s why it’s important to, you know if we’re looking at a cluster outbreak or looking at some special circumstances, so we can get those sequenced right away.”VaccinationsWhen the omicron variant was first identified in Nebraska, DHHS Acting State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Donahue said, “The identification of omicron reinforces the urgency for Nebraskans to get vaccinated. The more Nebraskans are vaccinated, the less opportunity new SARS-CoV-2 variants will have to take hold in the state. With delta, which is the current predominant variant, unvaccinated Nebraskans are filling hospitals at a rate 10 times higher than vaccinated Nebraskans. We are doing our part to find new variants when they emerge and arrive in the state, older Nebraskans have done their part in getting vaccinated at high rates; we need younger Nebraskans to keep stepping up to protect themselves and each other by choosing to get vaccinated.”Governor Pete Ricketts continues to urge all eligible Nebraskan to get vaccinated, as do other medical and government agencies. Despite this, Jefferson County has not seen a significant increase in vaccinations for several weeks. As of press time, DHHS reports just 55 percent of the eligible population, that is residents age five and over, are fully vaccinated. The statewide percentage of 63.03.DHHS also reported 53 new confirmed positive cases in the last two weeks in Jefferson County.Hospital CapacityA major concern and contributor to potential mortality of infected patients is hospital capacity. Jefferson Community Health and Life does not possess ventilators. As COVID-19 cases surge in Southeast Nebraska, the ambulance service is having to travel further and further to find hospital beds for patients. Alan Rosenthal, Director of Ambulance District #33, explained the problem to Jefferson County Commissioners at a recent meeting, “The hospitals in Lincoln are pretty regularly running at capacity. So we’ve been trying to do what we can to work with the hospital here. Just to find a COVID room is getting pretty tough.”

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