Omicron variant dominates statewide infections

The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) announced last week that Omicron has quickly become the most common variant of COVID-19 causing new infections in Wyoming.

This has been determined, according to State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist, through variant sequencing and estimates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

“We are currently seeing big jumps in Wyoming’s case counts again, likely due to the Omicron variant. This is again not like the COVID-19 we have become familiar with because it spreads much more easily between people,” Harrist said in a press release.

“Unfortunately, when a virus transmits between people easily, more people become infected.”

As recently as December 11, the CDC estimates that the Delta variant was still causing over 90% of cases across Region 8 of the United States, which includes Wyoming along with Colorado, Montana, Utah and North and South Dakota.

Last week, however, the Delta variant had all but disappeared and was estimated to be accounting for less than 5% of cases, while Omicron was thought to be causing more than 95% of new infections.

In Wyoming, weighted estimates of variant proportions from samples collected over the four weeks ending on December 11 suggest Omicron is now causing 94.28% of new cases.

The WDH COVID-19 dashboard currently records 25 known cases of Omicron, concentrated in the southeastern corner of the state.

However, the actual number of cases is unknown as not all tests are analyzed for the presence of variant DNA. Also, Omicron is thought to cause milder symptoms than its predecessors, so it is not known what proportion of people who have contracted the variant have been asymptomatic or have not been tested.

In terms of overall COVID-19 infections, Wyoming has seen its number of known active cases skyrocket over the last week after a long period of slow decline, jumping from 1228 last Monday to 3085 this Monday.

“While we aren’t yet certain how much severe illness will accompany the increase in cases, we do know vaccines are the best tool we have to protect people from severe illness,” Harrist said.

“We continue to encourage eligible adults and children to say yes to free, safe and effective vaccination if they haven’t already and to encourage those eligible for booster doses to get them as soon as possible to enhance and extend their protection.”

The CDC reports community transmission of COVID-19 as high across almost the entire nation. This top tier rating currently accounts for almost 97% of counties in the United States, including Crook County.

Hospitalizations are also again on the rise after slowly dropping from a high of 249 in October. On Monday, 73 people in Wyoming were in hospital due to COVID-19.

Hospitalizations in Crook County have remained between one and two since December 23, before which there had been a two-week period of no hospitalizations at all.

At this time, the CDC records 33.4% of this county’s population as having received at least one dose of a vaccine and 28.4% as fully vaccinated. Of those who have been fully vaccinated, 37.8% have now received a booster dose.

The CDC has updated its vaccine recommendations to include boosters for fully vaccinated youths aged between 12 and 15 who received their second Pfizer dose at least five months ago. At this time, only the Pfizer vaccination is authorized for people aged between 12 and 17.

Boosters have been shown to help broaden and strengthen protection against Omicron and other variants. The booster recommendations were authorized after a review of safety data from 25 million vaccine doses in adolescents.

“It is critical that we protect our children and teens from COVID-19 infection and the complications of severe disease,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director.

“…We now recommend that all adolescents aged 12-17 years should receive a booster shot five months after their primary series. This booster dose will provide optimized protection against COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. I encourage all parents to keep their children up to date with CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.”