Niedbalski
COVID-19 hospitalizations at Columbus Regional Hospital ticked back up into the double digits this week as local officials warn that mutations of the virus may lead to “ebbs and flows” in hospitalizations “for the foreseeable future.”
On Wednesday, there were 12 people hospitalized with COVID-19 at CRH, up from seven the week before, the hospital said. There were 605 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide as of Tuesday, up from 467 on June 23, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
The latest uptick in hospitalizations comes as federal health officials report that two fast-spreading omicron subvariants are gaining ground in the United States.
The two subvariants, called BA.4 and BA.5, are believed to be more contagious than the original omicron strand that officials believe sent cases and hospitalizations in Bartholomew County soaring to record highs this past winter.
Combined, the two subvariants now account for 70% of recently sequenced samples, up from 52.3% the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week.
In a six-state region that includes Indiana, the two subvariants made up nearly 72% of recently sequenced samples, up from about 28% in early June, CDC records show.
“At this time, we need to be mindful that COVID-19 continues to mutate, and these new strains tend to eventually circulate around the globe,” said Bartholomew County Health Officer Dr. Brian Niedbalski. “The introduction of new strains into the population can subsequently lead to reinfection. Therefore, it seems that we are going to continue to see ebbs and flows in the numbers of positive cases and hospitalizations for the foreseeable future.”
The update from local health officials also comes as Bartholomew County once again moves into the CDC’s medium COVID-19 community spread level. The CDC says people in counties with medium COVID-19 levels who are at a high risk for severe illness should talk with their healthcare provider about wearing masks and take other precautions, stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if they are experiencing symptoms.
Currently, it is hard to say exactly how prevalent COVID-19 is in Bartholomew County, as many people are testing with at-home kits and not reporting the results to health officials. While the CDC metrics consider case counts, they largely focus on hospitalizations and hospital capacity.
However, the concentration of COVID-19 in Bartholomew County’s wastewater has risen dramatically over the past few weeks, according to the CDC’s wastewater surveillance program.
During a 15-day period ending this past Monday, the concentration of COVID-19 in local sewage was 60% of what it was during the peak of the omicron surge this past winter. By comparison, the level of virus in local wastewater during the 15 days ending June 22 was at about 27% of what it was at the pandemic’s peak.
Many public health experts have said that sewage testing may paint a more accurate picture of viral spread than testing. People infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can shed genetic material from the virus in their feces, and this material can be detected in community wastewater, according to the CDC.
CRH officials, for their part, have reported a “slight continued rise in hospitalizations” in recent weeks.
“All this just indicates that the virus is still circulating and causing moderate to serious illness in some,” CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue said in a previous interview.
As COVID-19 continues to spread, local officials are urging local residents to get vaccinated, get their booster shots and take precautions.
Nearly 1 in 3 Bartholomew County residents — about 25,486 people — are still completely unvaccinated, meaning they have not received any doses of a vaccine, according to the CDC and U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.
Just over half of fully vaccinated local residents have gotten a booster shot.
“It is still very important to get a booster if you are in an age group that qualifies or otherwise have a medical condition that places you at high risk,” Niedbalski said.
