Here & Now

The Search for COVID-19 Variants in Wisconsin

Frederica Freyberg:

The extreme spike in COVID-19 cases is now declining as quickly as it advanced. At its peak, the seven-day average hit nearly 19,000 new daily cases in mid-January. Now that number is under 5,000, but all 72 counties are still considered “critically high.” The number of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 are also falling, and this week, health officials reported the lowest number of COVID ICU patients in nearly three months. But is relief here to stay? During a Department of Health Services media briefing, State Epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Westergaard spoke to the potential variants ahead as the pandemic could turn endemic.

Ryan Westergaard:

Our expectation, our hope is that we see more of the same, which is a declining day by day, week by week from this really extraordinarily high peak that we saw from Omicron. Whether the new variation, if it takes hold, will cause that decline to occur more slowly is something that’s been theorized, but we won’t know until we observe it. And I think both of these variants will continue to spread in the community until there are no susceptible people left, and right now there are still some people who are unvaccinated or have been far enough away from their vaccine that they are susceptible, and people who have been previously infected have some protection but that of course wanes over time as well. So the phrase endemic as you say, meaning that we’ve sort of reached a steady state of transmission, I think that’s likely to happen during this next year, but the thing we can’t predict, although many people are reasonably — think it’s a reasonably likely expectation is that there will be additional variants in the future that will change from a steady state to a spike that we’ve seen before.

Frederica Freyberg:

The Omicron subvariant now identified in Wisconsin only differs by a few mutations, but a Danish study is calling it 1 1/2 times more contagious. How concerning is this, and how does sequencing these COVID variants inform response to the virus? We turn to Kelsey Florek, a genome scientist with Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. Thanks very much for joining us.

Kelsey Florek:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Was the State Lab of Hygiene involved in identifying this new subvariant?

Kelsey Florek:

Yes, so the State Lab of Hygiene is actively sequencing upwards of 500 samples a week, and our effort has been really focused on trying to better understand the variants that are out there in Wisconsin and also looking for the new variants as they emerge.

Frederica Freyberg:

So when you see such a variant, and I say this because it’s probably not done this way anymore, but when you see a variant under your microscope, what is your reaction?

Kelsey Florek:

So we actually don’t use microscopes. It’s a largely molecular technique so it involves taking the virus, breaking it into a bunch of smaller pieces and then finding the genetic code of each one of those pieces. And what really is involved with that is — really it’s a data analytics process of gathering all of that information, comparing it to what we’ve seen before, and trying to classify those viruses using that information.

Frederica Freyberg:

So do you ever know how a particular variant will behave?

Kelsey Florek:

It’s really hard to predict. The COVID virus is still relatively new. It’s only been around for obviously a few years here, and we’ve been really trying to better understand what some of these mutations could mean as far as what types of effects these mutations could have downstream. We’re getting closer and closer being able to identify certain markers we need to be concerned about but there’s still a lot of science that needs to be done to better understand these markers and going forward, know what these mutations might have in store for us.

Frederica Freyberg:

Like when Omicron burst into the population, was that anticipated because of how it behaved elsewhere?

Kelsey Florek:

It was not actually. So we were lucky in the fact that we saw how it happened in other parts of the globe, before it came to the U.S., so we had some idea what to expect. But largely that virus came on to the scene and looked very different compared to a lot of previous variants we’ve seen. So it was a real challenge to understand early on what that virus was capable of doing.

Frederica Freyberg:

You say when you do this work, you’re looking for these markers that will suggest what these variants will do. What have you seen so far that the population should know about in terms of markers in all these variants that you are sequencing?

Kelsey Florek:

So the best piece I can share with that is that a lot of what we’re seeing is pretty standard throughout the U.S. We don’t see a lot of things here in Wisconsin that are very unique to Wisconsin. What we’re seeing is largely in line with what has been seen in other states and other counties. So it’s more of just getting a grasp on what we’re seeing and using that information to both guide our public health actions as well as guide the usage of different therapies that we know may or may not be effective given certain variants.

Frederica Freyberg:

Given the twists and turns of COVID-19, is it your expectation that it will ever become just a part of life for which we take shots, like the flu, or is it different?

Kelsey Florek:

I really hope that when we get to a phase where it’s treated very similar to the flu, where we maybe have a booster every now and then to make sure that we have accurate protection against whatever could emerge, but again, this virus is still very new and we’re still — it keeps throwing us through twists and turns as this pandemic continues on.

Frederica Freyberg:

So how concerned should we be that this latest, I think it’s the latest, Omicron subvariant is reported to be even more contagious than the original, back to that Danish study saying it was one and a half times more contagious?

Kelsey Florek:

Yes, so it has been reported to be more transmissible, but what we’ve seen so far at least with the evidence is that there seems to be some cross reaction happening between the two viruses, so even though it’s more contagious, it seems like it’s still largely very similar to the Omicron variant we just recently saw the peak of in terms of virulence and our cause for concern.

Frederica Freyberg:

So it’s been isolated in Wisconsin, even if it’s more contagious, would people who were vaccinated or boosted or had already had COVID-19 be protected from that?

Kelsey Florek:

So the vaccine does provide a level of protection against severe cases of hospitalization and treatment, but I think in terms of exposure, there’s still a risk that we could have some breakthrough infections of people who had been previously exposed or previously vaccinated could still get this new variant.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right, well, we want to thank you for all the work you’re doing there to help us understand COVID-19. Kelsey Florek, thanks a lot.

Kelsey Florek:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

While Omicron was sweeping through the state, available testing lagged. This vacuum was filled by pop-up testing sites quickly opened by private companies. In particular, testing sites under the banner “Center for COVID Control,” an Illinois company, aroused suspicion and complaints from people looking for rapid tests in cities across the state. Madison had six such sites which have all now closed down. The Department of Health Services’ Office of Inspector General says the pop-up sites can lead to potential scams, poor quality, or the compromise of personal information. The Wisconsin DHS says trusted testing sites are listed on its COVID-19 community testing sites web page.