“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”
When it comes to relaxed anxieties regarding COVID-19, many people can relate to that iconic line uttered by actor Al Pacino in the Godfather Part III.
Despite feelings that the pandemic is finally winding down, a distressing surge in the St. Louis region has pulled medical experts and the optimistic public back into the “worry zone.”
“The data is clearly telling us we have to take action to reduce the cases.” – The St. Louis Health Director Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis
In a June 7 public statement, St. Louis Health Director Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, urged city residents to once again mask up:
“The data is clearly telling us we have to take action to reduce the cases. We all need to do our part. We know that masks minimize the transmission of the virus, and we can expect a decline in cases and a decline in hospitalizations if our community voluntarily masks up during this critical time.”
St. Louis County Acting Health Director Dr. Faisal Khan, who will be leaving the office later this year, issued a similar notice for county residents. In his latest newsletter, St. Louis County Executive, Sam Page noted “a steady rise of COVID-19 cases in the region.”
“The CDC Community Risk Level is currently at high for both the County and the City,” Page wrote with, “the rolling seven-day average of 414 new cases per day. On June 6 the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported a total of 201 COVID-19 patients across area hospitals, with six patients having died that week.
Some Americans thought the country was coming out from under COVID’s dreaded cloud. According to a recent Gallup poll, 34% of respondents believe the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. is over, with 66% disagreeing with that sentiment.
Part of the reason people’s attitudes relaxed was because of the reduction in daily COVID-19 deaths. The United States Census reported that COVID-deaths in the United States spiked almost 19% between 2019 and 2020. Deaths remained elevated in 2021 as the coronavirus mutated into more infectious states. In total, more than 1 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19.
Now, in 2022, fewer people-roughly 300 per day nationwide-are succumbing to the virus. The fact that fewer people are dying from the pandemic since it began in 2020, is good news. However, the infection and death rates could have and could be much better if more people are immunized.
According to the University of Missouri Health Care, herd immunity (when a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease) is achievable if around 80-90% of the population is immune, either through prior infection or vaccinations.
This fact speaks to another real “American problem,” CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently noted.
“Only 48.7% of Americans over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated and received at least one booster dose, Gupta wrote in his June 8, “Coronavirus Fact vs Fiction” report. America, Gupta added, has “a lower rate” of vaccinations than other countries with similar access to vaccines. Sharing numbers from the CDC, Gupta cited that 69.6% of people over the age of 12 have been boosted in the United Kingdom, 55.5% in Canada, and, across the 27 European Union countries, 62.6% of adults have been boosted.
Last week, the St. Louis American shared a Missouri Independent article stating that vaccinations may have cut the state’s COVID-19 fatalities in half. In other words, if all of Missouri’s adults were vaccinated, more than half of the over 14,000 deaths attributed to the virus may have been prevented.
Missouri’s vaccination rates have remained largely stagnant since the start of the year. Nearly 66% of adults in Missouri have been fully vaccinated. That measure, according to the CDC, puts the state at the 10th lowest vaccination rate nationwide.
Stefanie Friedhoff, a Brown University School of Public Health professor, noted for The Independent the success of better-vaccinated states.
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut all have 95% vaccination rates, according to US News and World Report. Additionally, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, and New York have between 93% and 90.4% vaccination rates.
These states, Friedhoff said, are much more successful than Missouri in vaccinating more of their residents and therefore having fewer vaccine-preventable deaths, especially among the most vulnerable populations, like the elderly, immunocompromised and communities of color.
Although many people want it over, COVID-19 cases, powered by a rising tide of omicron sub variants are surging again. As summer begins, experts warn of at least four highly infectious sub variants of omicron spreading throughout the U.S.
Like Pacino’s Godfather character, some may have thought we were coming out of the pandemic. But, as in the past two years, we’re back in the COVID worry zone. Experts warn that now is not the time to let our guards down. Getting vaccinated and practicing pandemic safety precautions should still be prerequisites this summer.
As unwanted as this dreaded news may be, it may be wise to adhere to County Executive Page’s recent plea:
“Please get vaccinated and stay up to date on boosters, as vaccinations can prevent serious illness and death, get tested and stay home if you are sick, and mask in public indoor spaces.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
