Even a mild infection with COVID-19 can cause “profound” cellular effects in the brain with long-term impact on memory and executive function, according to a new study released Monday.
The pre-print study from authors at Stanford, Yale and New York’s Mount Sinai, which has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, found that people infected with COVID can frequently suffer neurological impacts similar to those who’ve undergone treatment for cancer — a condition known as cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) or “chemo brain.”
“(The) findings presented here illustrate striking similarities between neuropathophysiology after cancer therapy and after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and elucidate cellular deficits that may contribute to lasting neurological symptoms following even mild SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the authors wrote.
COVID-19 symptoms and the brain
Using infected mice as a model, researchers found a “stark decrease” in new neurons being generated in the hippocampus region of the brain just a week after infection and determined that the condition persisted for at least seven weeks. (Neuron generation in that region of the brain is “thought to support healthy memory function,” they noted.)
Researchers examined brain tissue from people who died in early 2020 and were infected with COVID at the time of death; they found “robustly elevated” markers of inflammation in the brain, even in those who had been only mildly sick or asymptomatic.
In addition, they studied people suffering from “long COVID” in two groups, those with cognitive effects and those without — most of whom had only mild infections and hadn’t been hospitalized. The people with cognitive effects had elevated levels of a protein associated with inflammation in their plasma, the authors reported.
Omicron symptoms of COVID-19
“Taken together, the findings presented here underscore profound multi-cellular dysregulation in the brain caused by even mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the researchers summarized in their discussion.
Much of the data in the study comes from earlier in the pandemic, and scientists say it’s still not clear what long-term impact the omicron variant, for example, will have on people.
“The incidence and severity of cognitive impairment following COVID-19 caused by newer SARS-CoV-2 variants such as the Omicron variant, or as a result of breakthrough infection in vaccinated individuals, remains to be determined,” they noted.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence on what some call “COVID brain” or “COVID fog,” which scientists are still trying to understand fully — particularly, how long it might last in those who’ve otherwise recovered.
More and more evidence is coming to light that COVID-19 can have troubling effects on the brain, informally referred to as “brain fog,” and doctors are worried people are suffering from it without knowing that it is COVID-related. NBC New York’s Rana Novini reports.
New York state smashed its single-day COVID case record Wednesday, reporting a total of 67,000 new positives, a 64% increase in the last day. Nearly 20% of the 362,000 some tests statewide were positive
Virus hospitalizations are at mid-February levels and climbing, with NY reporting 6,700 patients as of Wednesday, a 10% increase in the last day, and nearly triple-digit daily deaths for the first time in months
While this intense omicron wave is expected to be shorter-lived than the delta one, Gov. Kathy Hochul says she expects a peak on all core COVID metrics next month and says the state is prepared to handle it
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned lower reported COVID-19 infections across the state earlier in the week likely were a result of reduced holiday weekend testing, cautioning a surge could appear mid-week as more results came in. They’re in.
The state reported a new single-day high of 67,090 cases on Wednesday, a 64.5% increase in just the last day, Hochul said. The unprecedented total came amid a recent high in the number of daily tests — 362,594 — for a positivity rate of 18.5%.
The governor described those high testing numbers as a “very positive outcome” in that it shows the state is able to deploy sufficient resources to meet testing demand, which has skyrocketed amid this wave of omicron variant infections.
At the same time, Hochul reported 97 new COVID fatalities in New York, the first time in many months daily deaths have neared 100. It tops the most recent reported high by at least 20 lives and is “not the direction we want to go,” Hochul said.
Hospitalizations are escalating exponentially, too, rounding out at about 6,767 total statewide as of Wednesday, Hochul said. That’s a 10% increase over Tuesday’s admissions and perilously close to the 2021 highs around 8,700 from January. More than 960 patients are in ICUs, with another 17 added to Wednesday’s count.
For now, most hospitals are able to manage the increases, given omicron’s tendency to cause milder infections among the fully vaccinated. About two dozen hospitals throughout the state have paused elective surgeries to maintain at least 10% bed capacity, but that number is down from 32 in the last weeks and stable.
“We’re basically preparing for a January surge. We know it’s coming. And we’re naive to think it won’t,” Hochul said Wednesday, shaking her head at the apparent simple inevitability of the fact. “We do think there’s going to be a spike in cases that’s going to continue, not just in our positive rates but in our hospitalizations.”
The data are almost hard to fathom — nearly 20% of all COVID tests in the state came back positive Wednesday, and in just the last seven days, about 1.5% of all New York residents tested positive.
As Hochul said of omicron a day ago, “This is a different variant” as far as its unprecedented infectiousness and vaccine resistance.
Breakthrough infections have been particularly problematic with this strain, crippling everything from Broadway companies to transit operations, airlines and more as industries race to adopt new CDC isolation guidelines that account for both omicron’s heightened transmissibility and milder cases for the vaccinated.
As of New York state’s latest report, vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 infection was 75%, meaning fully vaccinated New Yorkers had about a 75% lower chance of becoming infected than unvaccinated New Yorkers. In May, the rate was 92%. It dropped to 80% during the delta variant surge and again amid omicron.
Vaccine effectiveness against COVID hospitalization dropped to a much slighter degree under omicron (94.6% effectiveness rate, state data shows). That’s a higher rate than New York saw in mid-July amid delta’s peak (93.7%) and on par with early May efficacy rates against COVID hospitalization for the fully vaccinated.
The state does not separate fully vaccinated New Yorkers from fully vaccinated New Yorkers who have gotten boosters in this data set, so the data may be a bit skewed.
Meanwhile, positivity and transmission rates are soaring in New York City especially, which accounts for a significant share of all new COVID cases nationally.
Omicron has fueled unprecedented daily infections across the U.S. as well. America set a record seven-day case average on Tuesday, according to NBC News data.
The average of 262,034 daily cases eclipsed the former record set on Jan. 11 of 252,776 new cases a day. It dropped a bit, according to the CDC, to around 240,400 cases per day on Wednesday, still up 60% over the previous week.
“The rapid increase in cases we are seeing across the country is in large part a reflection of the exceptionally transmissible omicron variant,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a White House briefing Wednesday. “In a few short weeks, omicron has rapidly increased across the country, and we expect, will continue to circulate in the coming weeks. While our cases have substantially increased from last week, hospitalizations and deaths remain comparatively low.”
The severity of omicron is taking its toll, generating record-breaking case increases as cities from coast to coast scramble to try and slow the spread. NBC News’ Liz McLaughlin has the latest from the head of the CDC on the incubation period and more.
The variant, the first local case of which was reported on Dec. 2, accounted for 74.2% of genetically sequenced positive New York COVID samples uploaded to GISAID, the world’s largest repository of COVID-19 sequences, over the last two weeks. That’s up from 73.3% a day ago, 11.1% in the two-week period ending Dec. 18 and from 2.2% in the two-week period before that, state data shows.
CDC data for the latest two weeks says omicron could account for anywhere from 70% to 97% of current infections in the New York area for the week ending Dec. 25. Nationally, the prevalence is estimated to be as high as 74%, the agency says.
Ultimately, officials say vaccinations will quell the increases in hospitalizations and deaths associated with the omicron wave — and those metrics are a much greater concern for them than infections alone. That’s why they’re urging calm at this time — and pushing vaccinations and COVID boosters for those who have to get them.
“New Year’s Eve is coming. I do hope we can have a healthier next year, but we’re going to be smart. New Yorkers, if we’re anything, we’re tough, we’re tenacious but we’re also smart,” Hochul said Wednesday. “We’re going to do the right thing by continuing to share the message of getting vaccinated, getting children vaccinated, getting the booster shots, wearing the mask, and I know I sound like a broken record but I’m going to keep repeating it because we need to remind people that this is the way out of this. We’re not as vulnerable as we were this time last year.”
Still, the governor acknowledges the devastating toll of these last two years as she thanked healthcare workers in the North Country region for their tireless dedication.
“There’s an exhaustion setting in, they never dreamed they’d be going through not one but two winters of this with no end in sight because this variant is so wildly unpredictable,” the Democrat said. “Everyone in this whole healthcare ecosystem, they are owed a tremendous debt of gratitude.”
The omicron variant is fueling a surge that has set single-day pandemic records for statewide cases four days in a row; COVID hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been since mid-April
Given high vaccination rates for the densest parts of NY, especially the city, and increases in booster doses, amid other protective tools, Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state will be able to ride out this wave
Most importantly, the Democrat says she doesn’t anticipate the need for another shutdown. On schools, she stressed, “We are keeping our schools open. Let me repeat that: We are keeping our schools open”
New York state’s vaccinated health commissioner tested positive for COVID-19 via a rapid test, marking yet another breakthrough case as the Big Apple battles a record-breaking viral surge, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday as she acknowledged the open seat next to her. Dr. Mary T. Bassett has also gotten her booster, she added.
News of the positive test for the state’s leading health official came the same day the Empire State broke its own single-day pandemic case record for a fourth straight day, with Hochul reporting nearly 23,400 new cases overnight. The lion’s share of those infections come from New York City, where over 15,000 people tested positive, up nearly 50% since Friday.
The strain of coronavirus that infected Bassett wasn’t known and would take more extensive testing to determine if it were omicron, as all isolation of variants requires.
The unprecedented infectiousness of the new variant, and its apparent ability to evade the immune system, has stoked anxiety across the state and nation, but officials are quick to point out it doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease — at least for those who are fully vaccinated and received a booster like Bassett, for whom Hochul described no severe symptoms as a result of her infection.
The Democrat insisted fully vaccinated and boosted New Yorkers can safely gather with other fully vaccinated and boosted loved ones this holiday season and take solace in the expectation that those key protections, along with enhanced mask protocol in crowds at least through the season, will spare them any severe COVID illness this winter. She also insisted once again Monday that these tools, which were not widely available this time last year, will spare the state another shutdown.
Moderna says its COVID-19 booster does appear to provide protection against the omicron variant.
“It’s not March of 2020. It’s not even December of 2020. Just to keep things in perspective, it is milder than delta,” Hochul said of omicron. “We are avoiding a government shutdown because we now have the tools available to all of us — vaccinations, booster shots, masks — particularly for the variant we’re dealing with.”
“We are keeping our schools open,” Hochul emphasized. “Let me repeat that: We are keeping schools open.”
For the nearly 20% of New York adults who aren’t yet fully vaccinated, omicron — and the still pervasive delta variant, the story could be different. Hochul has been vocal about her mounting frustration with that group in recent weeks.
She has called out certain parts of the state with particularly low rates, like the Southern Tier, North Country and Mohawk Valley, for contributing to the furious spread of a pandemic-causing virus that feeds off its ability to mutate.
Only about two-thirds of adult residents in those regions are fully vaccinated, the latest state data show. That compares with about 83% of New York City adults and 86% of those on Long Island. The number of cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling period hits the denser areas harder, with the city and Long Island reporting 92.9 and 102.8 new cases per 100,000 residents by that metric.
The Southern Tier is the most densely populated of the three lowest vaccinated regions in New York state and has the highest new cases per 100,000 residents rate (110.4) of all 10 regions. New York City has roughly six times the population of the Southern Tier and a lower hospitalization per 100,000 residents rate (11.46) over the last seven days than any other region in the state.
Long Island is third-lowest (19.67), with another highly vaccinated region, Mid-Hudson, sandwiched in between. These numbers are further evidence, officials say, of the power of existing vaccines to prevent severe COVID-linked illness and death, whatever the variant linked to the increases in infections.
At least 192 cases of omicron have now been confirmed in New York state, about a fifth of them in New York City, though experts believe that 192 number is significantly underreported. The Empire State only conducts the genetic sequencing necessary to isolate variants on 3.6% of positive COVID samples, well lower than other hotspots like California (6.07%) but higher than New Jersey.
While the exact number of new omicron cases across the state can be difficult to determine given those limitations, no county has anywhere close to the number of confirmed cases of the new variant than Tompkins (117), which falls within the Southern Tier region. It’s also home to Ithaca and Cornell University, where the campus COVID surge forced a nearly full remote end to this latest semester.
Every single one of the 115 student samples that were tested for variants came back as omicron, the university said late Friday.
Data on the genetic sequencing rates by New York county for positive COVID samples by New York county does not appear available, so it’s unclear if Tompkins County is linked to a much higher omicron rate because of the testing volume.
While omicron may not be linked to more severe illness, it is causing an unprecedented surge in COVID cases that alone could overwhelm underprepared hospitals, top health officials at all levels of government have said.
In New York, the number of hospitals with bed capacity below 10% has declined since Hochul’s Nov. 22 briefing, from 28 to 32, which she says is encouraging.
“This is really the break point. If you have a surge of individuals needing medical care in a hospital, that’s where things break down,” Hochul said. “This is where our hands-on engagement is really making a difference. This could have been a crisis situation already” given the soaring statewide hospitalizations over the last month.
“We may not hit those peaks again,” the governor added. “We’re not going to throw in the towel here. We will not surrender to pandemic fatigue, as much as we’re getting exhausted from this. We can get through this holiday season.”
Other differentiators the governor plans to deploy in the next few weeks — more hospital staff, at-home tests for school kids. Hochul says she’s adamant that they remain safely open. Starting in January, she plans to send at-home testing kids with children in COVID-affected classrooms as part of that multi-pronged effort.
In addition, Hochul said the state will send and/or make available:
$65 million in aid to counties for “mask or vax” protocol implementation
10 million more free at-home tests, including half of those this month (2 million for school districts, 1 million for county emergency managers, 1.6 million for NYC, 400,000 for state vaccine sites)
3.4 million robocalls reminding vaccinated people to get their boosters
6 million masks to county emergency managers
Hochul says she’s not there yet but she’s frustrated with trying to hammer home the same point to vaccine holdouts and is instead redoubling her focus on vaccinations and boosters through incentive-laden campaigns in an effort to get potentially more amenable parts of the state with lower vaccination rates to boost their paces.
New York City continues to push the same message, even as its triumphant plans for a crowd-filled (fully vaccinated only, of course) New Year’s Eve in Times Square now appear far less definitive than they were just a few weeks ago.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged a decision on that party before Christmas. He warned Monday the omicron surge would likely intensify further — and considerably so — before it abates but says the good news is it is expected to be short-lived.
“We’re going to see a really fast upsurge in cases. We’re going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by omicron,” the Democrat said, noting the surge is only expected to last a few weeks, based on the information he has received.
“We will get past omicron. We will continue our recovery in this city,” de Blasio, whose mayoral term wraps up Dec. 31. “Vaccination will be the key to all of this and New York City continues to lead the way in this country in terms of huge numbers of people vaccinated and aggressive measures to get even more folks vaccinated.”
The fate of the annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be decided this week. Meanwhile, private school teachers have run out of time to get vaccinated. NBC New York’s Tracie Strahan and Romney Smith report.
Almost exactly one month after Mayor Bill de Blasio triumphantly announced tens of thousands of fully vaccinated people could return to Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve in person this year, the state saw it’s highest single-day reporting of new COVID infections.
The previous record, set 11 months ago on Jan. 14, crumbled when Gov. Kathy Hochul announced 21,027 new positive cases statewide Friday. The old record for most cases in a single day was 19,942. New York reported close to the same number of tests taken last Friday, but of that batch (over 260,000), there were 10,000 less positive cases one week ago.
In an effort to combat rising cases of either variant, the state is rushing to acquire millions of at-home tests for New Yorkers living in communities with lower vaccine rates. On CNN Friday, the governor confirmed 1 million cases were already in hand with another 2 million on the way.
The unprecedented omicron-fueled COVID surge enveloping the former epicenter of the pandemic now has the mayor willing to reconsider the end of year festivities. However the mayor decides to handle the event, Hochul said it’s a decision best left up to the localities and that de Blasio will “make the right decision.”
Asked about the planned end-of-year bash Thursday night on CNN, de Blasio said the party is on for now but that could change at some point if the data warrants it.
“We made the decision a few weeks back when things were much better. But we said vaccinated people only,” the Democrat said. “Everyone’s been told for weeks and weeks, don’t even show up in Times Square unless you’re vaccinated.”
“Now we’re going to reassess constantly with the new information. We’re going to follow the data and the science,” he added. “Right now, it’s on. You know, we’ll make a decision as we go, get closer as to what should finally happen.”
While that full vaccination requirement is what fueled de Blasio’s confidence in a safe, jam-packed Crossroads of the World to close out 2021, a growing number of people who planned to go may be wondering if it is still enough.
The omicron COVID variant is a growing cause of concern during the holiday season as New Yorkers anticipate travel and group events, but should we cancel plans? Here’s what several experts suggest. News 4’s Linda Gaudino reports.
A day ago, the mayor’s top health adviser, Dr. Jay Varma, tweeted, “Um, we’ve never seen this before in #NYC” regarding COVID positivity rates. The share of people testing positive doubled in three days this week, and Varma said it was an indication of omicron evading immunity in a way no other variant had before.
The city’s rolling daily case average is up almost 57% over the rolling averages for the previous four weeks and COVID hospitalizations are up nearly 31%. Delta is the variant believed to be fueling the spike in more severe cases, while omicron is thought to be behind the surge in infections. Both are called “variants of concern.”
The latter accounts for only 1% of tested COVID samples in New York City currently, though its prevalence is likely far higher. Delta remains dominant (97%), but experts expect omicron to overtake it as the dominant U.S. strain in a matter of weeks.
The city does not report how many of the new cases are breakthrough infections. They are still believed to be a very small fraction of new COVID cases, and a minute fraction of new hospitalizations, but both of those fractions have been steadily rising since the emergence of omicron in November, state data shows.
New Daily Cases Over Time by Vaccination Status
New Daily Hospital Admissions Over Time by Vaccination Status
The anecdotal evidence is there, too. Breakthrough infections have rattled New York City’s entertainment industry resurgence to its core, with the Rockettes becoming the latest casualty Friday.
A range of Broadway shows, from “Hamilton,” to “Moulin Rouge” to “Mrs. Doubtfire” and others, are canceling performances for the same reason. In some cases, the breakthrough cases in the companies are discovered so late and unexpectedly that audiences are in their seats when they learn the show will not go on.
While the first U.S. omicron case was only confirmed 16 days ago, health officials believe it was in America — and New York, which is detecting it at four times the rate of the rest of the country, the CDC said this week — well before that.
About 75% of the first 40 U.S. confirmed omicron cases were breakthrough infections, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said.
Still, she and other leading health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, say the vast majority of those cases are mild and the existing vaccines are still overwhelmingly effective at preventing severe COVID-related illness and death. De Blasio agrees.
“If someone’s vaccinated, particularly if they have gotten that booster, they’re a hell a lot safer,” de Blasio said on CNN. “They still might get COVID. I might get COVID. You might get COVID. But we’re going to live through it. We probably don’t end up in a hospital, which is not only good for you and me, it’s good for the whole society.”
“COVID has taught us a lesson. It changes all the time. So, the reason you want to be extra careful is because you don’t know what the next curve ball’s going to be,” he added — and of omicron said, “This is a whole new animal and we got to be honest about the fact that it’s moving very fast and we have to move faster.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that new data show booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines offer protection against the omicron variant and there is no current need to reformulate shots for variant-specific boosters.
As Ontario tries to keep a resurgence of COVID-19 cases under control, new data from Public Health Ontario shows only nine fully vaccinated people under 60 have ended up in the ICU.
The report paints the most detailed picture yet of breakthrough cases — and who is getting very sick despite being fully vaccinated — showing that the majority of those who need hospital care are adults over the age of 60, with the highest proportion in their 80s.
Experts say the findings underscore that vaccines are working well to prevent infections and hospitalizations. But they also support opening up third doses of the COVID vaccine to more older adults, and highlight why masking and other public health measures are still critical at this stage of the pandemic to protect the most vulnerable.
“It’s clear that vaccines are working phenomenally well,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease expert and a former member of Ontario’s now disbanded vaccine task force.
“But if you look at all the breakthrough cases, there is a greater probability that the older age cohorts will have more serious infections.” Based on this and data from other parts of the world, “it would make sense to expand third dose eligibility to the 50-year-old age cohort and up.”
Third doses have been opened up widely in the U.S. and Israel, but in Ontario only a few groups qualify, including health-care workers, individuals 70 and up, people who got two doses of AstraZeneca or one dose of Johnson & Johnson, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis adults. You have to be 168 days past your second dose to get a third one. Immunocompromised people, transplant recipients, patients with hematological cancers, and seniors living in congregate settings, such as long-term-care homes, retirement homes and First Nations elder care lodges, are also eligible.
The Public Health Ontario report, which includes COVID vaccination and case data up until Nov. 14, shows there were only 17,596 breakthrough cases out of the 11.1 million individuals who have completed two doses of the vaccine. As of Nov. 14, there were just 40 cases following a third dose, the data shows.
“The take-home message is that the COVID-19 vaccines … are highly effective at protecting against infection, and particularly effective at protecting against serious outcomes, including hospitalization and death, from COVID-19,” Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician at Public Health Ontario, said in an email to the Star.
As of Nov. 14, unvaccinated individuals made up 91 per cent of COVID cases in Ontario, with breakthrough infections accounting for 3.8 per cent of cases. Public Health Ontario defines a breakthrough case as “individuals who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and were infected more than two weeks after receiving their second dose,” Wilson said.
The report notes a similar trend was observed for COVID hospitalizations and deaths “with unvaccinated cases accounting for 90.9 per cent of hospitalizations and 90.2 per cent of deaths while breakthrough cases accounted for 2.7 per cent of hospitalizations and 3.3 per cent of deaths.” As of Nov. 14, 178 fully vaccinated individuals had died of a COVID infection.
While the data shows older adults are more at risk of hospitalization from a breakthrough infection — particularly those over the age of 80 — the rate of “hospitalizations was higher among unvaccinated individuals compared to fully vaccinated individuals.”
Wilson said the data makes it clear the risk of COVID infection is higher for those who are unvaccinated. For those 60 and older, the risk of being hospitalized with the virus was about 16 times higher for unvaccinated individuals compared to those who had two doses.
Dr. Zain Chagla, an associate professor at McMaster University, said only nine intensive care unit admissions in people under 60 is “pretty remarkable,” but the “opposite side of the coin though is those over 60 probably do require booster doses.”
Especially since global vaccine supply is still strained and there are people in some countries who still don’t have access to first and second doses, “you want to make sure (third doses) are used in people where they’re going to derive the most benefit.”
Lucy Gerardi, who turns 68 soon, would be first in line if third doses were opened up for her age group.
“You just want to have that extra sense of security,” said the retired biology teacher and Oakville resident. As of Tuesday, it has been 168 days since her second shot and she’s been calling around to public health officials trying to get more information about when she can get a third, to no avail.
“You’re just kind of in limbo,” Gerardi said.
“But I guess we should be thankful we at least have two shots, when there are people in the world that have none.”
Nearly 420,000 third doses have been administered in Ontario, according to Ministry of Health spokesperson Bill Campbell, up from 290,000 last week. These numbers will start being reported publicly soon. “Ontario’s plan is to gradually expand eligibility for a booster dose to all Ontarians over time,” he said in an emailed statement. For now, in line with National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommendations, they are being offered to vulnerable populations, Campbell added.
While the Ontario data shows COVID vaccines work very well, they still do not offer complete protection, said Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious diseases specialist at University Health Network.
“The message that is distilled from this report should not be one of nihilism, that vaccines just don’t work well enough,” he said. “The vaccines work very well, but they have their limitations.”
That’s why maintaining public health measures, particularly masking and minimizing risks that come with crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces, is still critical, even with a highly immunized population, Sharkawy said.
“We have to maintain a sense of vigilance around those things that can prevent at-risk people from becoming sick. And that means preventing the possibility of breakthrough infection by not simply relying on the vaccines alone.”
Wilson said Public Health Ontario will be publishing further reports on breakthrough infections “that could be used to inform third dose rollout” and that researchers are looking at data on different age groups and the timing of infection after a second dose.
At least 79 people have died with COVID-19 in Massachusetts even though they were fully vaccinated, according to a newspaper report, as the more contagious Delta variant continues to spread.
The so-called breakthrough cases — cases where fully vaccinated individuals test positive for coronavirus — have so far been rare, but are possible.
As of June 19, a total of 3,907 breakthrough cases had been reported to the state Department of Public Health, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday. Of those, 71 people died and 268 people were hospitalized.
Through Saturday, The Boston Globe reported those numbers had risen to 4,450 confirmed breakthrough cases, 79 deaths and 303 hospitalizations.
“All available data continue to support that all 3 vaccines used in the US are highly protective against severe disease and death from all known variants of COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to get vaccinated,” the DPH said in a statement to the Globe, while adding that “we expect to have some vaccine breakthrough cases.”
Massachusetts health officials on Tuesday reported that a total of 4,278,111 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.
Nationwide, more than 4,100 fully vaccinated people were hospitalized or died with coronavirus as of June 25, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To date, 159.7 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.
The vaccines are highly effective but don’t block every infection and efficacy rates decrease slightly for variants like alpha and delta. It is unclear, however, if the reported breakthrough cases were caused by variants.
The CDC stopped counting breakthrough infections in May. Instead, federal health officials are only tracking vaccinated patients who end up in the hospital or those who die from COVID-19.
The latest CDC data shows that the Delta variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S.
Though the metrics remain near their recorded low points in Massachusetts, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising in Massachusetts as the Delta variant continues to spread.
The more contagious Delta variant is taking over as the dominant coronavirus strain in Massachusetts, Boston-based infectious disease experts have said, and is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S.
Officials in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are sounding the alarm after a handful of new COVID-19 cases “overwhelmingly” affecting fully vaccinated individuals were reported in the Cape Cod tourist community in recent days.
First identified in India and now in over 100 countries, studies have shown that the Delta variant spreads approximately 225% faster than the original strain of the virus. The strain has been “steadily rising” in Massachusetts since it was found in April.
