Here & Now

A Second Pandemic Thanksgiving

Frederica Freyberg:

In pandemic news, as fall rounds into winter, Wisconsin health officials are sounding the alarm on the COVID-19 surge in the state saying daily case counts nearing 4,000 haven’t been seen since the end of 2020. Additionally, Wisconsin hospitals are now nearly full, with 96% of ICU and 99% of the intermediate beds taken by patients. That leading health officers in Wisconsin to once again beseech people to “help flatten the curve.”

Ryan Westergaard:

It’s getting hard to find beds for patients, either beds in the hospital where they are presenting for care in the emergency department or people who need a higher level of care. It’s becoming more difficult to find a bed to transfer them.

Frederica Freyberg:

Just across our borders, Minnesota and Michigan have the worst rate of new COVID infections in the country. For the latest on what’s going on regionally, we turn to Mayo Clinic and Dr. Melanie Swift who joins us from Rochester, Minnesota. Thanks very much for being here.

Melanie Swift:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So why is this happening again and why in the upper Midwest?

Melanie Swift:

It’s both a blessing and a curse that we’ve had higher uptick of vaccination in this part of the country than some other regions. It has helped to slow the curve of this recent surge. So we haven’t seen the huge, dramatic peaks of cases that some parts of the country experienced last summer with the Delta variant. Instead, we have had more modest cases, but they have not extinguished over time as you do when you have a more aggressive surge. So we continue to have what we kind of call fuel for the fire: unvaccinated people at just enough level that they continue to contract and spread COVID.

Frederica Freyberg:

So if the answer to help flatten this curve even though it’s not that dramatic surge that you described, if the answer is to get vaccinated, what more can be done, especially in counties across the states that have lower vaccination rates?

Melanie Swift:

I think that we are going to see some significant changes in terms of workplace requirements. Unfortunately, that’s rather contentious. But it appears to be likely necessary to get the levels of vaccination that we need. We are fortunately able to now vaccinate children as young as five now that schools are back trying to meet in person, families are going to try to gather over the holidays and into next year. Vaccinating children could help us stop this surge that’s going on right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

As the months tick by, protection from two-dose vaccines even and natural immunity from infection wane, I understand, so are the unvaccinated and waning immunity groups colliding with the Delta variant and now indoor weather?

Melanie Swift:

All of those factors are playing a role. We are seeing in our own internal data that unvaccinated people are being infected at much higher the rate than vaccinated people who even haven’t had a booster yet who are still being infected at a higher rate than those who have had their booster. We do expect some recommendations from CDC soon for boosters for all and strongly encourage anyone eligible for a booster to go ahead and get it as we head into this season where many factors collide that could make it a bad winter for COVID.

Frederica Freyberg:

Because at this point, are we talking about the only fully-vaccinated people are those with boosters?

Melanie Swift:

Fully vaccinated continues to mean that you’ve had your initial series plus two weeks of time. However, I think we’re going to need a new term for fully vaccinated and up-to-date with all recommended boosters.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is it really safe at this point with what we’re seeing in these kind of case counts in Wisconsin and Minnesota, is it really safe for people to gather for Thanksgiving or travel?

Melanie Swift:

I think that we unfortunately need to be exercising caution like we did last year. I’m concerned about Thanksgiving coming up. Children are not yet fully vaccinated and won’t be until mid to late December. And families cannot take a false sense of security from that first shot of vaccine. And unvaccinated people continue to be at high risk. Initially-vaccinated people without a booster and they were vaccinated more than six months ago, they are at higher risk than their boosted counterparts. So we do have to continue taking precautions unfortunately.

Frederica Freyberg:

Yeah. Because people are just over hearing that, right? But I want to ask this question. Wisconsin’s gun deer season opens Saturday and our health department in Wisconsin has offered guidance that hunters should mask while field dressing deer. How concerning is the research showing the deer population infected with COVID?

Melanie Swift:

I think that’s an abundance of caution. There certainly is evidence that whitetail deer have antibodies to COVID and have been infected. There’s really no evidence of a significant spread to humans. However, you can get many things from deer and other wildlife. So precautions like wearing gloves are very important, not letting your hunting dogs or other animals come in direct contact with wild animals still very important. Not eating, drinking, smoking while you’re dressing deer very important. However we just really don’t see anything that USDA or CDC has seen in terms of wildlife like deer transmitting COVID directly to humans. So that’s an extra measure of caution, but I don’t have concern that we’re going to have significant transmission from deer to hunters.

Frederica Freyberg:

Very, very good news. Dr. Melanie Swift, thanks very much.

Melanie Swift:

Thank you for having me.