BA.5 Variant Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Health Leaders Tracking New COVID-19 Variant

Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus czar, said he’s closely watching how the most common COVID-19 variant is changing, which could lead to an increase in hospitalizations.

The COVID-19 BA.5 variant, which is now the most common COVID-19 variant across the country, is mutating.

“Which is giving this new form of COVID-19 a higher ability to infect people and to avoid immune systems, particularly immune systems that are not up to date with vaccinations,” Marsh said Wednesday during Gov. Jim Justice’s press conference.

He said New York has seen an uptick in hospitalizations from the new variant and West Virginia tends to lag a few weeks behind their experience.

Dr. Ayne Amjad, acting state health officer and commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health, added, “So far it isn’t deadlier like the Delta variant … but it’s still infectious.”

Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, who is part of the governor’s administration and has led the state’s vaccination efforts, noted that it’s now considered best practice to receive your COVID-19 booster shot and flu shot at the same time.

Marsh also urged parents of young children to avoid gatherings where people are sick as the state braces for a possible “tridemic,” a simultaneous surge of COVID-19, the flu and RSV.

The state’s pediatric intensive care units were at 90 percent capacity at the end of last month.

Information on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters is available here.

COVID-19 Deaths Continue To Climb Despite Improving Numbers

The state’s COVID-19 numbers continue to improve incrementally, but the virus is still claiming lives.

Gov. Jim Justice read 23 more COVID-19 deaths Tuesday bringing the state’s total deaths from the pandemic to 7,402.

Justice and his advisers pointed out 95 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been people 50 or older.

“At the end of the day, that wisdom is lost,” Justice said. “Seventy-five percent of those 7,402 deaths have been people over the age of 65 we’ll miss and we’ll never recover from the loss of that wisdom. It’s really sad.”

Coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh said that data from abroad shows the BA.5 omicron variant is plateauing, but new variants are emerging. He said that in colder climates, cases as well as hospitalizations are increasing, highlighting the importance of the recently released omicron-specific booster.

“Now that the booster shots are available for all West Virginians and Americans over 12 years old, it is really important for us to take that step to protect ourselves, to protect our communities,” Marsh said.

Justice continued to advocate for not only continued COVID-19 vaccination, but also flu vaccinations.

“You need to be going to get your flu shots as well,” he said. “You can get your COVID shots at the same time you’re getting your flu shot, but we absolutely know that what we don’t want to do is get in a situation to where this winter it just gets compoundingly worse.”

FDA Authorizes Omicron Specific COVID-19 Booster Shots

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized new COVID-19 booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna that are omicron specific.

The newer omicron A.4 and BA.5 variants make up 99 percent of new cases in the U.S.

The fast approval by the FDA of the booster shots that target the dominant BA.4 and BA.5 omicron sub variants was highly anticipated amid government efforts to roll out a fall vaccination campaign.

The bivalent vaccine (targets two strains) also protects against the original version of the virus included in all previous shots.

With the number of COVID-19 infections predicted to rise as fall and winter approaches, it’s hoped that the new omicron specific boosters will provide protection against serious illness and death.

The new Moderna booster has been cleared for use as a single dose in anyone aged 18 or older. The new Pfizer-BioNTech booster is authorized for people aged 12 years and up. The omicron specific booster will also be available to anyone two months out from completing their initial vaccination series or last booster shot.

The boosters are expected to be made available to the public starting next week, pending approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Swine Flu Detected In Jackson County

Two individuals are presumed positive for a variant of the swine flu after visiting the swine barn at the Jackson County Fair last week.

During Thursday’s regular COVID-19 press conference, Gov. Jim Justice started with his now regular rundown of the state’s COVID-19 numbers. He quickly moved on to announce that swine flu had been detected in the state.

Two individuals are presumed positive for influenza A H3N2v, a variant of the swine flu, after visiting the swine barn at the Jackson County Fair last week.

State Epidemiologist Shannon McBee said the risk to the public is low, but others who visited the fair’s swine barn should be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms.

“If they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, that they visit their health care providers, especially if they’re at high risk for influenza complications,” McBee said. “These are going to be children, individuals who are elderly, or have compromising immune systems or pregnant women, so they see their health care provider and are evaluated to see if they need antivirals.”

The same influenza antiviral drugs used to treat seasonal influenza can be used for treatment of swine flu infection in humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, early steps to make a vaccine against H3N2v have been taken including the production of a pilot H3N2v vaccine and preliminary clinical studies.

McBee said state health officials are working with the CDC to confirm the presumptive positives and with the Department of Agriculture to confirm infection in the pigs.

0804 COVID Update

Later in the press conference, coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh said that as COVID-19 hospitalizations hover around 350, state medical leaders are keeping a close eye on hospital capacity.

However, he also stressed the importance of preventing infection with vaccination and testing.

“As we watch this, we are both looking at hospital capacity, we are also very keen to look at the age of people that are hospitalized, and try to gain insight into how BA.5 and the severity of the people getting infected is starting to correlate, so that we can try to target a group of older West Virginians who are at higher risk with both targeted information about staying up to date with vaccinations, and being very aggressive about that if they have any new symptoms,” Marsh said.

With 77 percent of people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States being over the age of 65, Marsh stressed the importance for those 50 and older of staying up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.

Justice Promotes Vaccinations; Talks Other Issues

Gov. Jim Justice continued to advocate for vaccinations and boosters during a regular COVID-19 briefing that spanned topics from the impacts of recent flooding to the drawn out special legislative session.

After reading out 14 additional COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the state’s rolling total to 7,163 dead Tuesday, Justice renewed his calls for people to get vaccinated and boosted against the virus. His focus was on older residents.

“For crying out loud if you happen to be 50 and older and you’re not getting a booster shot, making a big mistake,” Justice said. “It’s completely silly. It doesn’t make any sense at all if you’re vaccinated that you don’t have your booster shot because if you’re out of the time period and everything you need that booster shot, your immunity is almost nothing.”

With the BA.5 variant now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in West Virginia, and its increased ability to reinfect patients, coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh discussed the developing understanding of the risks of reinfection.

“We are now starting to track that the more times you’ve been infected with COVID-19, the more likely you will be to have long COVID and also to suffer some more important limitations as far as the impact on the vital organs in your body, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the liver, etc.” Marsh said. “That is really another important reason to be up to date on vaccinations.”

Hospitalizations, now more than 330, continue to creep up, but the number of ICU cases and patients on ventilators remains comparatively low. Marsh has previously pointed to this as evidence that vaccines are working to protect against severe infection.

Justice discussed the groundbreaking for the Coalfield Expressway yesterday, before his visit to communities in the south of the state impacted by last week’s flooding.

“We need to remember and try with all in us to not just walk away, and I told the folks there we don’t want to put a bandaid on cancer,” Justice said. “I sit right there and listen to all their issues, all their problems that they have going to all their solutions because at the end of the day, those are the folks, not necessarily us in Charleston, that know what needs to be done.”

He then focused on the flooding in eastern Kentucky, calling the devastation “a magnitude even greater than the 2016 flood.” Justice said Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky told him that West Virginia helicopters had aided in the rescue of more than 40 individuals from the floods.

Later in the briefing, Justice responded to a question about his feelings regarding the ongoing special legislative session.

“I’m not going to perpetuate the food fight,” he said before expressing his disappointment in the failure of the legislature to pass his proposed personal income tax cut.

Justice offered up prayers and well wishes for Senate president Craig Blair, who underwent a hip replacement earlier in the day, before moving on to the special session’s other issue of abortion.

“Fifty years this country has surely changed our footprint, and now our Supreme Court has spoken and our laws are old and ancient and they need modernized,” Justice said.

He expressed regret that more hasn’t been accomplished in the special session.

Twenty More COVID-19 Deaths Reported As BA.5 Continues Surge

Twenty more COVID-19 deaths were reported during Gov. Jim Justice’s briefing Thursday as the BA.5 variant continues to infect West Virginians at a high rate.

Updated on Friday, July 29, 2022 at 10:21 a.m.

Twenty more COVID-19 deaths were reported during Gov. Jim Justice’s briefing Thursday as the BA.5 variant continues to infect West Virginians at a high rate.

The variant accounts for 82 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United States.

There are 3,351 active cases in the state, with 1,197 new cases being reported by the Department of Health and Human Resources since its last update. Justice also says there could be more positive cases going unreported because of home testing.

“I remind and remind and remind that absolutely, especially if you’re over the age of 50, and you were vaccinated, come on, we got to get your booster shot. That’s just all there is to it,” Justice said. “Every person we get across the finish line is a life that is possibly saved.”

The number is among the highest active case numbers in the state since February, with the surge expected to peak in the coming weeks. Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh says this amount of new cases is a direct result of the highly contagious BA.5 variant.

“We’re seeing that equate with more hospitalizations,” Marsh said. “And we know the most important thing people can do to protect themselves is be up to date with their vaccines.”

As of the briefing, 327 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized. Out of those patients, 51 are in the ICU and 13 are on ventilators.

Justice also announced a third probable case of monkeypox in the state – the second in Berkeley County. This brings the total number of probable cases in the state to three.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

***Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify the amount of new monkeypox cases announced Thursday.