Pine Island Task Force discusses COVID in light of immunosuppression
At the May 24, Pine Island Task Force meeting, Dr. James Koopman said although the number of COVID-19 cases seems to be going down nationally, the numbers in Lee County are not doing as well.
“It’s going down, recently,” said Koopman,” but it’s still at very high levels. It’s not going down like it is in other places. Moreover, if you look at the hospitalizations, they’re not going down very much. Deaths are not going down very much … the tests for positivity are very high, so that the infection level is actually higher than would be otherwise.”
Koopman went on to say that his focus is on variants, and the complications that can arise from those variants. Those who get re-infected or for whom the vaccine has waned, he said, put everyone at risk of infection.
Task Force member Ellen Ballard contends that if someone has not gotten a vaccine for whatever reason, wearing a mask and following CDC guidelines for COVID precautions are critical for maintaining the health of the community.
“If you are in the subset of people who have received the vaccine, but are in other ways immunocompromised, it is critical that you continue to wear a face mask and wash your hands,” said Ballard.
Koopman agreed, explaining the need of the immunocompromised to protect themselves and said they are even more key to protecting others. Some who have been vaccinated, he said, haven’t been able to develop much immunity to COVID, due to their own compromised immune system.
“The British variant appeared very quickly with seven different changes,” said Koopman. “We think that was most likely due to the fact that somebody who was immunocompromised or was possibly getting convalescent serum or some of the new monoclonal antibody treatments, then developed resistance to all of those.”
(fda.gov: Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful pathogens such as viruses, like SARS-CoV-2. Like other infectious organisms, SARS-CoV-2 can mutate over time, resulting in genetic variation in the population of circulating viral strains.)
Ballard explained those who are immunocompromised are those who may be currently undergoing chemotherapy, immunotherapy, who have rheumatoid arthritis, have chronic breathing problems, have HIV, AIDS or are undergoing steroid treatments. Koopman emphasized cancer patients as the number one immunocompromised group.
Fellow Task Force member Sue Dahod added transplant patients to the list.
“According to Hopkins,” said Ballard. “It also includes a wide list of chronic health conditions — obesity, advanced age, diabetes. A whole laundry list of the American lifestyle.”
Koopman said part of the reason the number of COVID cases are going down is that fewer people are getting tested, adding that the country needs to get down to a 1 percent positivity rate. According to University of Michigan studies, he said, people who have been infected with a coronavirus will get re-infected within two to three years.
“There’s no reason to believe it’s going to be any different with the Sars Coronavirus-2,” said Koopman… “the severity of the disease, if you’ve been vaccinated, on average is less, but there are a good number of people who get more severe infections on their second infection.”
Dahod pointed out that due to many who remain unvaccinated, we are likely to be dealing with the virus for a while.
“I think there’s this sense that we’ve passed the worst part of it and we’re heading down,” Task Force member Jim McLaughlin said. “People are still dying from this, but that seems to have been pushed aside.”
“It’s fair to say the probability of getting COVID is going down,” said Dahod, “but the reality is, it’s not zero, and it’s not significantly reduced from where it’s been. It’s just a little bit better.”
The future risk, Koopman said, only requires one person to create a mutant virus and begin re-infection.