HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam remains in a “massive surge” driven by the omicron variant although it has started to see a decline in new Covid-19 positive cases at an average of 500 a day, health officials said on Wednesday.
Moreover, at least seven more deaths are expected to be officially reported, bringing the total Covid-19-related fatality toll to at least 315.
More than 40 of those are just in the first six weeks of 2022.
The “surge” at the hospitals also continues, although admissions to the intensive care unit are still less than 10 daily.
“Deaths are still appearing sporadically. I have not updated the deaths (data). We just got a week’s worth of cases from GRMC. We’ll be reporting seven deaths today. And I will update that for next week,” Ann Pobutsky, territorial epidemiologist for the Department of Public Health and Social Services, said during the regular Covid-19 briefing with media partners.
The daily testing has been down by one-third because of the prioritization strategy.
But that’s still an average of 1,300 tests a day with the test positivity rate at nearly 40%, DPHSS said.
“Yes we are seeing a decline but we are still in a massive surge,” Pobutsky said.
‘Long way to go’
Other states considering lifting the vaccine mandate are using various metrics that include a daily positivity rate of 5% or lower, and Guam having almost 40% still has a “long way to go,” Annette David, lead epidemiologist for Guam’s State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, said.
She said what ought to determine the lifting of mandates is “science and public health,” and not politics.
“In the end you don’t want to keep on backtracking because you stopped certain interventions too early,” David said.
David acknowledges the “fatigue” that everyone’s experiencing because of the prolonged Covid-19 crisis.
People should not let their guards down, however, she said.
The interventions that have been known to work should remain, including getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing, she said.
But all is not lost.
“We keep our fingers crossed but it looks like based on the data that Dr. Ann just showed that we may have turned the corner and we are starting a decrease in cases so we are hopeful, cautiously hopeful, that that’s the case,” David said.
MAB clinic reopens
Fernando Esteves, incident commander for DPHSS, said the Mangilao monoclonal antibody treatment center will reopen Thursday morning.
He said Guam is starting to see its supply of Covid-19 testing kits and therapeutics stabilize.
The current inventory of Covid-19 testing kits is at 41,000 with additional 70,000 shortly.
But testing continues to be prioritized for those with symptoms and those who are close contacts who are considered high risk such as being elderly and with diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions.
Esteves said besides the availability of the antibody treatment Sotrovimab, Guam has also placed orders for another newly-authorized therapeutics called Bebtelovimab. Guam also has the antiviral pills Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, both requiring doctor’s prescription.
Here’s some DPHSS data from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14:
Covid-19 case rates started declining on Jan. 29.
Based on a seven-day rolling average, Guam now sees about 500 cases a day, offsetting the peak average of around 650 a day weeks back. Peaked at more than 800 a day.
There’s decline in cases among all age groups but the 18-39 age bracket still leads, followed by the 12-17 age group.
The proportion of symptomatic cases is now averaging 40% of the cases.
There’s continued increases in the daily hospital census, recently reaching 70 after remaining at below 50 for weeks.
Other takeaways:
DPHSS continues to review a 2021 death that may have the Covid-19 vaccination as among the “contributory” factors.
The genome sequencing machine that could identify the variants present on Guam is still not operable.
More than 100 motorists line up for Covid-19 testing at the Tiyan testing site in Barrigada in this Jan. 10, 2022 photo.
