While actions such as travel restrictions and mandatory masking have been ordered by various countries to combat the spread of the Covid’s Omicron variant, Westchester officials are looking toward science and statistics for guidance on whether and when specific actions will need to be taken.
“The decisions we have to make in Westchester County have to be based on what”™s the status of this pandemic here in Westchester,“ County Executive George Latimer said during a Covid briefing. “We will not overcompensate for what we think might happen and we won”™t operate out of fear. We won”™t operate out of anger and we won”™t operate out of ideology. We”™re going to look at the facts on the ground.”
Latimer reported that there have not been any cases of the Omicron variant detected in Westchester and that over the past two weeks there have been a total of two Covid fatalities in the county, and three fatalities in the past three weeks.
Latimer said that from March 2020 through November 2021 there have been a total of 2,354 Covid fatalities in the county. He said that as of Nov. 29 there were 52 people hospitalized in the county with Covid. He said that compares with 244 people hospitalized in Westchester with the virus on Nov. 28, 2020.
Latimer reported that 92.2% of people 18 years and older in Westchester have been vaccinated against Covid.
“In an average setting, as you walk down the street, every 10 people that you see, nine of them have started their vaccination protocol,” Latimer said. “That 92% vaccination rate in Westchester is dramatically different from other parts of New York state.”
Latimer said that in Rockland County the adult vaccination rate is 81.5%, according to statistics compiled by the state. It is 75.3% in Orange County, 80.3% in Dutchess and 86.9% in Putnam.
Dr. Sherlita Amler, Westchester County”™s health commissioner, described the Omicron variant as having an unusually large number of genetic mutations.
“Several of these are novel mutations, meaning they have not been seen in previous Covid variants and several of these genetic mutations impact the spike protein,” Amler said. “The reason that is important is that the spike protein is what the vaccine companies use to try to target the virus.”
The spike proteins on the surface of the virus are what it uses to invade human cells.
Amler said she and others in public health are concerned about whether the Omicron variant is going to be more transmissible than the Delta variant. She said that as of Nov. 29, Omicron had been identified in 15 countries including Canada.
“A concern is can this new variant evade, escape the vaccine safety that was provided by the vaccines that most of us have taken? Can it cause infection in people that are fully vaccinated? This information is being studied and we”™ll have that I”™m sure in the next couple of weeks,” Amler said. “We”™ll have a really good idea of how protective the vaccines are against this new variant.”
She also said there is concern that Omicron may impact the natural immunity provided to people who actually had a Covid infection.
Amler said that the current Covid tests appear to be doing an adequate job of detecting the Omicron variant.
“How we”™ll know if we have the variant in our backyard and it makes it to Westchester is when people test positive for Covid there is a sequencing that is done of that particular virus”™ RNA. It”™s genetic material and they”™re looking for variations,” Amler said.
Amler said that protections against Omicron are the same as those that have been adopted since the pandemic began: vaccination; social distancing; wearing masks; and frequent hand washing.
