Omicron less dangerous, more contagious, Sununu says at press conference
Paul Tracy 5:34 a.m. INdepthNH.org
CONCORD - With the number of new COVID-19 cases doubling in a week to about 2,500 a day across the state, Gov. Chris Sununu announced Wednesday that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is now the dominant strain and warned that hospitalizations will likely continue to be very high for the next two months. Dr. Benjamin Chan, state epidemiologist, said the state has currently 20,458 positive COVID-19 cases with 2,438 new cases reported Wednesday, an average of 2,500 a day now. The PCR positivity rate has gone up from 20 percent to 21 percent since last week. "Going forward because the daily numbers fluctuate so much we are going to start reporting the average number of COVID deaths that have occurred each day. We continue to see an average of 9 to 10 deaths occurring each day in New Hampshire," Chan said. Sununu said: "We have a whole series of checks and balances on those numbers so they are super accurate. "We're just seeing more drastic fluctuations from people being out to what's happening over the weekend to Omicron. The numbers will get a little higher and a little more extreme if you will potentially over the next few weeks," Sununu said. Sununu was questioned about why the change in reporting deaths after two years. Sununu's spokesman Ben Vihstadt sent reporters a clarification. "The State will continue to report daily deaths on our state dashboard and in the daily report, as we have since the beginning of the pandemic. The dashboard will be updated today. "The only thing that is changing is that the weekly press conferences and daily reports will now also include the rolling average of deaths over the last week to provide a more complete picture," Vihstadt said. At the press conference Sununu said the good news is that the Omicron variant is less lethal than the Delta variant but the bad news is it is so much more contagious, Sununu said. Sununu said the number of current hospitalizations at 415 "scare" him and keep him daily on his toes with health-care providers and national officials. The state has to "be nimble" and move resources around to respond to the crisis, he said. Sununu said just shy of 200 National Guard units will be deployed across the state next week at hospitals, nursing homes, and in the prison system where many workers are sick with the virus.
Teams to help administer monoclonal antibodies have arrived from FEMA but they came just as officials are finding that Omicron is resistant to those antibodies.
The National Guard has had 70 units deployed for several weeks in health care and nursing home settings. Another 100 have been called up and will help in a week, and another 25 are now heading to the prison system which is facing a lot of staffing needs. Open Enrollment Sununu noted that open enrollment for health care insurance plans for individuals ends Jan. 15. "As with COVID, you never know when you are going to need it," he said, urging people who have no insurance to go to healthcare.gov. to sign up by the Saturday deadline at midnight. Home Testing New Hampshire is in a better position than practically any other state, in offering and having available in-home testing for the virus, the governor said. He gave credit to Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette for "getting ahead of the ball" in saying "Yes to the Test" and school systems have access to testing, he said. If they need tests, Sununu suggested they reach out to the state.
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