Page 6 - March 23, 2022

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COMMUNITY UPDATE

can be directed to Lt. Jasmin Calderon at Organization. What’s not yet known is if
856-453-0486, ext. 11108 or Veterans@ BA.2 causes severe illness the way omicron Statement from Gov. Murphy and Commissioner
co.cumberland.nj.us . BA.1 did, which prompted a rapid surge Persichilli on Global COVID Case Rise
in cases, hospitalizations and deaths for a March 17, 2022—We are closely watching the recent rise in global COVID
month before plummeting just as quickly.
New COVID Variant Spreads While omicron BA.1 was considered numbers and, given both previous trends with regard to spread and our loca-
Quickly in NJ. Here’s What milder than both COVID’s original strain tion as an international nexus for travel and trade, we do anticipate that we will
eventually see an increase in the number of cases in New Jersey. We will con-
and the delta variant, more than 2,000 New
To Know About BA.2 Jerseyans died during its short peak. tinue to closely monitor virus activity in the state, in particular for impacts to
By Scott Fallon, NorthJersey.com, March “We often don’t know until it’s too late,” our health care system.
17, 2022 said Stephanie Silvera, an infectious disease However, at this time, we do not anticipate any need to reinstate universal
This story is being republished under a specialist at Montclair State University. statewide mandated protective measures. We encourage residents to stay up
special NJ News Commons content-sharing “That’s been the problem with managing to date with vaccinations and boosters, get tested when exposed or sick, and
agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. Link these surges. Deaths are one of the last monitor the state’s COVID-19 Activity Level (CALI) Report and CDC COVID
to story: northjersey.com/story/news/coro- impacts we see.” Community Levels for awareness of local COVID-19 activity and CDC masking
navirus/2022/03/17/ba-2-omicron-variant- Is New Jersey seeing any impact? recommendations. Those who are immunocompromised or otherwise at high
covid-nj-new-york/7047173001/ So far, it doesn’t look as if BA.2 is mak- risk are encouraged to follow the guidance of their health care provider and the
A new COVID variant is spreading ing a noticeable impact. But public health CDC.
quickly across New Jersey a month after officials say they are closely monitoring its We continue to be among the nation’s most-vaccinated states. Our health care
it was first detected in the state, new data spread. Key COVID metrics such as cases, infrastructure remains strong.
released this week shows. hospitalizations and deaths continue to We are not going to manage COVID to zero nor are we impervious to the
The BA.2 variant appears to be on its drop almost every day, and are hovering virus. We expect COVID to continue to mutate and cases to continue to ebb and
way to becoming the dominant COVID around levels last seen in July before the flow. Moving to an endemic status still means we must all take personal respon-
strain in the region, having more than dou- delta variant surge. sibility to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
bled in prevalence in only a week, according As of Tuesday night, COVID hospitaliza-
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. tions were at 438, intensive care admissions you may also have good protection against virus as a part of daily life and are forgoing
On Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy said at 81 and ventilator use at 49—a decrease of BA.2, according to the World Health full shutdowns.
he expects cases to rise in New Jersey due more than 90 percent since omicron’s peak Organization. China ordered a lockdown of residents
to surges seen in parts of Asia and Europe. in mid-January. Only 559 new cases were While reinfection is possible, studies in the city of Changchun, closed schools in
But he said he doesn’t expect to reinstate reported on Tuesday compared to a high suggest that infection with BA.1 “provides Shanghai and urged the public not to leave
“universal statewide mandated protective of 33,459 on January 7 when omicron was strong protection” against reinfection with Beijing last weekend amid a new spike.
measures.” peaking and record numbers of tests were BA.2. Hong Kong has seen its worst spike
It is unclear how much of an impact being taken during and after the holiday The hundreds of thousands of infections in recent weeks after limiting COVID’s
BA.2 will have on New Jersey and whether season. in New Jersey during the omicron surge spread for almost two years with some of
it is as severe as prior strains. BA.2 is con- Daily reported deaths have been in the “suggest that many residents may have the world’s most stringent health man-
sidered a “sublineage” of the highly trans- low double digits and single digits in March some protection against BA.2,” said Tan. dates. Hong Kong has reported more than
missible omicron variant called BA.1, which after fluctuating between 80 and 110 most How does NJ compare to the rest 700,000 COVID-19 infections and about
was responsible for the surge that hit New days in January. The plummeting metrics of the US? As with almost every COVID 4,200 deaths, most of them in the past three
Jersey hard from mid-December through led Murphy to lift the last two remaining variant, New Jersey and the rest of the weeks, according to Reuters.
mid-January. BA.2 has a different genetic state mask mandates—in schools and public Northeast were hit first with BA.2, and Will other variants emerge?
sequence from BA.1 and was first dubbed buildings—in what he calls a return to nor- are currently outpacing the rest of the The more times a virus replicates, the
the “stealth variant” because it wasn’t as malcy. But New Jersey health officials are U.S. In the CDC’s Region 2—New Jersey, more chances it has to mutate into a stron-
easy to detect. uncertain what BA.2 will do. New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin ger strain, as seen with delta and omicron.
How fast is BA.2 spreading in New “It’s difficult to predict how COVID-19 Islands—39 percent of COVID cases are the That has some public health experts
Jersey? Since it was first detected in New variants or any other emerging respiratory BA.2 strain, compared to the U.S. average of worried about the latest surge in Asia and
Jersey in late January, BA.2 has spread virus will evolve over time and what their 23.1 percent. elsewhere.
quickly in six weeks. It made up 39 percent specific impacts will be,” said Dr. Tina Tan, New England is close behind at 38.6 per- “I’m more worried that the sheer bio-
of COVID strains in New Jersey and New the state epidemiologist. “And it is hard to cent. California, Nevada and Arizona come mass of virus in these places that are now
York for the week ending on March 12—a predict whether a surge in BA.2 will trans- in third at 27.7 percent. As of March 12, experiencing major waves of omicron will
sizable jump from 17.3 percent the prior late to increased hospitalizations or deaths Region 2, which includes New Jersey and lead to the emergence of new strains, of
week, according to the latest CDC data. at this time.” New York, leads the nation in BA.2 spread. which we in the U.S. have not yet expe-
New Jersey’s latest variant report shows Are vaccines and natural immunity What’s happening in other parts rienced,” said Daniel Parker, an infec-
BA.2 at only 9.1 perdent, but that data is effective against BA.2? Vaccines were of the globe? Europe and parts of Asia tious disease expert at the University of
old. It uses test results from the four weeks shown to be as effective against BA.2 as have seen a rise in cases in the past few California, Irvine. “That could certainly
leading up to Febuary 26. they were against omicron BA.1, according weeks, but it’s not yet clear how much lead to spikes in cases like what we saw
Does BA.2 spread faster? Is it more to British scientists. That means the vac- BA.2 is to blame. The United Kingdom,
lethal? Studies have shown that BA.2 is cines may not prevent infection, but they the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland with delta and omicron.”
“inherently more transmissible” than omi- work well in fending off severe illness. and Italy saw an upswing last week. Many This article contains information from
cron BA.1, according to the World Health If you were infected by omicron BA.1, European countries have begun treating the USA Today.