Two cases, two deaths in Tuesday COVID update for Avoyelles

For two days in a row, Avoyelles Parish had two new cases and two additional deaths in the daily COVID update from the Louisiana Department of Health. Tuesday's report reviewed only 121 -- about 200 less than the weekend update released Monday.

In the last three LDH updates, Avoyelles has had five deaths -- one last Friday, two in the three-day report on Monday and two on Tuesday. There were only four new cases and no reinfections noted in those reports.

As of Tuesday, Avoyelles two-year pandemic totals were 11,564 cases affecting 10,767 individuals, of whom 797 were reinfected and 206 died.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong and Europe a "more contagious" variant of the "very contagious" Omicron variant of COVID is surging. Recent reports state Hong Kong is experiencing over 25 COVID-related deaths per 100,000 people last week. Daily cases of COVID in the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and France are increasing even as that number declines in the U.S.

There is a two-pronged concern by the COVID watchers. First, the U.S. has generally been two to four weeks behind Europe when a new surge strikes. Second, those areas hardest hit -- like Hong Kong -- are "under-vaccinated."

The New York Times reported that about 40 percent of Hong Kong residents -- and 50 percent of those over the age of 70 -- were not vaccinated prior to the latest wave. Just over 53 percent of Avoyelles Parish residents are not fully vaccinated. What might prevent a new COVID variant from running rampant once again is the fact that Omicron 1 did a really good job of "inoculating" the residents. The Times noted that Omicron infected about 45 percent of Americans during its two-month surge. As Omicron 1 proved, having been infected once and vaccinated two or three times is no guarantee against future infection, but it makes suffering a severe or fatal case of the disease very unlikely.

As has been said ever since vaccinations began back in late 2020, they are the best protection against COVID and the best weapon available to blunt the spread of the virus once it arrives in a community.

Omicron 2 has been identified in north Louisiana and it is currently making up about 12 percent of cases elsewhere in the nation. That makes it something to be aware of, but not a full-fledged surge at this time. There is hope that the natural immunity and vaccination campaigns will put up a strong enough wall to break an Omicron 2 wave before it can gather momentum.