Augusta hospitals say Omicron likely here but causing few problems so far

The Omicron surge blazing across the rest of the United States has not yet torched Georgia or Augusta, although it is likely here, Augusta doctors said. Even with that possibility, most vaccinated people can still keep holiday plans by using some precautions and common sense, they said.

The Omicron variant took a dramatic jump in one week, going from 12.6% of all viruses sequenced nationally to 73.2%, replacing Delta as the dominant strain, according to tracking data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

"And in some areas of the country, Omicron has increased even further, accounting for an estimated 90 percent of cases in the Eastern Atlantic states, parts of the Midwest, South, and Northern Pacific states," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. In the region that includes Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, it accounted for 95.2% of all viruses sequenced as of Dec. 18, CDC reported.

More:Updates: Here's where to get a COVID-19 vaccination in the Augusta area

Georgia's data is a little older, from Dec. 4, and Delta still made up 98% of all sequenced viruses, said Nancy Nydam, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state has documented 25 cases of Omicron so far.

However, "given the rapid transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the current proportion of Omicron in Georgia is likely similar to that of the national estimate and presumably will account for all new COVID cases in the state in the coming weeks," she said.

There were 976 COVID-19 patients in Georgia hospitals late last week, making up 9.7% of all hospitalized patients, according to Georgia Public Health. Augusta hospitals were seeing a relatively low number of COVID-19 patients coming in, with 30 at AU Medical Center, 33 at University Hospital and 11 at Doctors Hospital of Augusta. In less than a week, cases in Georgia went up 47% compared to the previous period but declined 42% in South Carolina, 43% in Aiken County, 46% in Columbia County and 29% in Richmond County, according to an analysis by the Augusta Chronicle. Deaths declined 29% in South Carolina and 58.5% in Georgia compared to the previous week, the analysis found.

"We know it’s in the area but it doesn’t seem to be really high yet, which is nice," said Dr. John Farr, chief medical officer for Doctors. A lot of what AUMC has seen is people who are not very sick but test positive for COVID-19, said Dr. Jose Vazquez, chief of infectious diseases at Augusta University.

"Clinically, we’re seeing a lot of ‘colds’ that are COVID positive, which sounds like Omicron," he said.

In that respect, while it is highly contagious, it is fortunate that it is not more severe, Farr and Vazquez said.

"That’s not to say that people don’t get sick with it," Farr said. "If the surge does hit us (the number of ICU patients) may not be as high as we saw with Delta, which would be really good. We may have a lot more people testing positive but can be taken care of at home."

In fact, based on reports out of South Africa that saw the Omicron surge already disappearing, that could be a good thing, Vazquez said.

"It’s very contagious, it takes over everybody, but it goes away really fast, it kind of burns out," he said. "It’s not uncommon in viruses like that to mutate, become very contagious, but not as severe. That’s usually how we come out of a pandemic like this.

"However, in the meantime, we need to guard ourselves and the way we do that is the vaccine."

Farr also stressed it is not too late for the unvaccinated to change their minds.

"There’s certainly opportunity and time to get immunized, to get your booster and now would be a great time to do that," he said.

Walensky said health officials want people to get together for the holidays if they are vaccinated and taking precautions and Farr and Vazquez echoed that. People who are at high risk may want to avoid large gatherings, particularly indoors, Farr said.

"I’m not sure that’s the wisest thing right now," he said. "I think you just have to apply common sense and have a certain comfort level with what you are doing."

"My point is, 'Go live your life with protection,' " Vazquez said. "I’m not one of those that say, 'Stay home in a bubble.' "

One great way to do that is to get a good home test and use it before you go to a holiday gathering, he said.

"If you can get some rapid tests, then get some rapid tests because it could save your holiday season," Vazquez said.