Your Coronavirus Update – Jan. 29, 2022

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Due to the winter storm, all state-run COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites will be closed on Saturday, January 29th. This includes the vaccination sites at Sockanosset Cross Road and the Rhode Island Convention Center, and all testing sites scheduled through portal.ri.gov. Additionally, the testing site at CCRI Warwick that normally operates 24 hours a day will close at 6 p.m. today, and reopen at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. People with vaccination appointments at Sockanosset Cross Road and the Rhode Island Convention Center will be notified directly by email that their appointments have been cancelled. To reschedule, people should visit C19VaccineRI.org. People with testing appointments at State-run sites will be notified by email and/or text message that their appointments have been cancelled. To reschedule, people should visit portal.ri.gov. 

Positivity rates at Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic are as much as 50-75%.

EpiVax founder, Dr Annie DeGroot says, “while current approved vaccines do trigger a T cell response, a vaccine developed to specifically harness the power of T cells may provide more effective, longer-lasting protection that will persist, despite viral variation. We believe that a T cell epitope-driven vaccine is what is needed to bring this pandemic under control.”

Boston restaurant reservations down 46% this month.

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Gov’s Press Conference:

Governor Dan McKee today announced a team of leaders to support the transition at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) while the search continues for a permanent director.

James McDonald, MD, MPH has served at RIDOH as a Medical Director and as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline since 2012. Dr. McDonald will assume the day-to-day responsibilities of RIDOH Director while the search for a permanent candidate continues.

Ana Novais has over 35 years of public health experience. She currently serves as Assistant Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Novais will be proving daily operational support to Dr. McDonald and the Department in areas such as policy, programming and legislative processes.

Ernie Almonte currently serves as Chief of Staff to Lt. Governor Sabina Matos. Prior to that,he was a business, government, and process improvement specialist with more than 40 years of experience. He has provided technical assistance on accounting and financial reporting issues to businesses, along with federal, state, and local governments. Almonte will provide managerial support on department finances, budgeting, and other fiscal operations.

Chris Abhulime, DVM, MS, PMHNP-BC is Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Dan McKee. He will serve as the liaison between the advisors and the Governor’s Office.  Abhulime will provide operational support to the Department.

Friday, 500K rapid tests will be distributed – 70% to cities/towns, 30% to community centers.

Boosters – about 35% of all Rhode Islanders have had boosters – not good enough – big focus on boosters going forward.

Case #s – 7 day case average beginning to decline – down 48%. 18-14% positive, decline.

Dr. McDonald – wants to help the Governor right now – and help find someone – leaves the door open to taking the job in the future, if offered.

Questions on Dr. Alexander-Scott’s resignation: Gov. McKee asked her to stay. He says he asked her for a professional transition for several months. We negotiated with her attorneys over several weeks. Offered for her to come on as a consultant. There was not a contract. She was on a statutory 5-year term. Dr. Scott said she had a “window of opportunity” – which she did not specify.

Testing – RI is leading the country in testing. Bringing in supplies with supply chain issue is a challenge. Marc Pappas is already working on getting what RI needs.

People are not mandated to self-report home testing – but we’d encourage them to to help with accurate data.

100 less people in the hospital than 8 days ago – hospitalizations are more important to look at.

Self-testing: Omicron surprises people, you can have no symptoms – you need to test early.

Natural immunity – some research is showing that this immunity is stronger – is it time to restore Dr. Skoly and the healthcare workers. “In the short term, you will be immune, but it does not last long – being who are vaccinated will do better – those with just natural immunity may get reinfected.” – If you are not up to date with 3 doses, you really need to do that.

Dr. McDonald – “there is no collapse of any hospital in RI” – some things are limited, but our workers are working – they are in good shape – people are well-served by them. “I think we are going to be ok” – in a few weeks we are going to be in a much better place.

Hospitalization rates with as opposed to because-of COVID will be given out on Tuesday.

The problem is RI is only 36% boostered – “we don’t know what the future holds” – There’s no waiting to get that booster shot – do it now.  Dr. McDonald, “We can control this pandemic – if we want to”.

Masks – we’ll be looking at that in the near future, as well as the emergency orders.

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MASKS: Nearly a week after the Biden administration announced it will deploy 400 million free N95 masks to the public, the high-quality face coverings are starting to arrive at pharmacies and grocery stores. “Every person is allowed up to 3 free masks pending availability,” the Department of Health and Human Services states. The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination is a collaboration between the federal government, states and territories, and 21 national pharmacy partners and independent pharmacy networks to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination across the United States. NOTE: We checked as early as yesterday and CVS did not yet have them delivered to them – but that could change by the day – their recording tells you more.

Rhode Island:

• Albertsons Companies, Inc. (including Osco, Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, Albertsons Market, Safeway, Tom Thumb, Star Market, Shaw’s, Haggen, Acme, Randalls, Carrs, Market Street, United, Vons, Pavilions, Amigos, Lucky’s, Pak n Save, Sav-On)
• CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (including Long’s)
• Good Neighbor Pharmacy and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation’s pharmacy services administrative organization (PSAO), Elevate Provider Network
• Health Mart Pharmacies
• LeaderNET and The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy, Cardinal Health’s PSAOs
• Retail Business Services, LLC (including Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Hannaford Bros Co, Stop & Shop)
• Walgreens (including Duane Reade)
• Walmart, Inc. (including Sam’s Club)

Massachusetts

• Albertsons Companies, Inc. (including Osco, Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, Albertsons Market, Safeway, Tom Thumb, Star Market, Shaw’s, Haggen, Acme, Randalls, Carrs, Market Street, United, Vons, Pavilions, Amigos, Lucky’s, Pak n Save, Sav-On)
• Costco Wholesale Corp.
• CPESN USA, LLC
• CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (including Long’s)
• Good Neighbor Pharmacy and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation’s pharmacy services administrative organization (PSAO), Elevate Provider Network
• Health Mart Pharmacies
• LeaderNET and The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy, Cardinal Health’s PSAOs
• Retail Business Services, LLC (including Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Hannaford Bros Co, Stop & Shop)
• Rite Aid Corp.
• Topco Associates, LLC (including Acme Fresh Markets, Associated Food Stores, Bashas, Big-Y Pharmacy and Wellness Center, Brookshire’s Pharmacy, Super One Pharmacy, FRESH by Brookshire’s Pharmacy, Coborn’s Pharmacy, Cash Wise Pharmacy, MarketPlace Pharmacy, Giant Eagle, Hartig Drug Company, King Kullen, Food City Pharmacy, Ingles Pharmacy, Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill Pharmacies, Save Mart Pharmacies, Lucky Pharmacies, SpartanNash, Price Chopper, Market 32, Tops Friendly Markets, ShopRite, Wegmans, Weis Markets, Inc.)
• Walgreens (including Duane Reade)
• Walmart, Inc. (including Sam’s Club)

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Health experts are urging Americans to get their booster shots as the average rate of people getting an extra dose continues to decline. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose and the average number of booster shots administered per day is down from 1 million in early December to about 490,000 as of last week.

The Omicron variant has been detected in 19 states, with only 100 cases. It does spread quickly.

Moderna booster works for about 6 months.

Hospitals spent more than $1B on remdesivir last year

Hospital workers in California are fighting in court to stay home more than 5 days if they have COVID.

National delay in bridal dresses – deliveries will take 3 times as long.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general said, “There are different scenarios for how the pandemic could play out and how the acute phase could end. But it’s dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame. On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.” Some key WHO targets:

• Vaccinate 70% of the population of each country by the middle of this year.
• Focus on vaccinating people at highest risk.
• Improve testing and sequencing rates to track the virus and emerging variants.

We’re in a transition moment in this pandemic We’re coming off highs of the worst surge of infections we’ve ever had Cases are high but starting to fall in much of the nation This moment raises lots of questions With one big one: What happens next? As Yogi Berra once said, It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future So we should be circumspect about how much we can predict with certainty But some things seem pretty reasonable to assume First, infections are likely to decline in upcoming weeks

Dr Jha tweeted on the future of the virus:

Wastewater data from Massachusetts Infections are falling fast. Expect to get to pre-Omicron surge levels within a week or two. The rest of the nation will soon follow And by Mid-February, infections should be relatively low across much of the nation.

Because of high levels of population immunity. Probably 100M to 120M people will have gotten infected in the omicron surge. And with about 90M folks also boosted. We have a lot of people with relatively high degree of immunity for the next few months Given the likely upcoming reprieve, what should we do? As case numbers fall AND hospital capacity improves meaningfully, We should relax public health restrictions, including relaxing mask mandates and indoor gathering limits Why? Why not leave them on? Because mandates are costly and should be used sparingly, and because during future surges, we may need to ask people to pull back or mask up again Preserving people’s willingness to do things is critical Also, We should use the reprieve to prepare for a possible next surge.

San Francisco can now take masks off if you are boosted and fully vaccinated. Though masks will still be required in retail locations, etc.