Omicron Isn’t Over Yet: Military Teams Bring Hospitals Some Relief

Oklahoman: Military Medical Teams Give Needed Support To OKC Hospitals Amid COVID
Dressed in the same scrubs their civilian counterparts wear, the military members in Oklahoma City hospitals look like any other health care workers. After a few days of training and onboarding, the teams have quickly gotten to work at OU Medical Center and Integris Health hospitals in Oklahoma City, offering extra support as the hospitals have struggled with the impact of the omicron surge on their staffing and capacity. “The only way somebody would be able to tell that it's a military member that’s taking care of them, rather than somebody from the Oklahoma City community, is our badges — our picture actually has our uniform on it,” said Maj. Greg Buchek, an infectious disease physician who is part of the Air Force team working with Integris. (Branham, 2/14)

The Salt Lake Tribune: COVID-19 Is Still Filling Rural Utah’s Hospitals. Now Providers Are Bringing In The Military.
Pfc. David Bravo has two days to learn the basics of nursing: taking a pulse, changing a bedpan — even practicing dressing other people’s bodies by putting socks on a mannequin. “With such a [tragic] pandemic going on, it’s rough on everyone,” said Bravo, one of 57 Utah National Guard members who are being deployed to southern Utah hospitals and nursing homes that are struggling to operate as the effects of January’s massive surge in COVID-19 cases linger in rural counties. (Alberty and Bitsoi, 2/11)

Hartford Courant: Military Medical-Relief Unit Arrives To Ease Burden On COVID-Afflicted Staff At Saint Francis 
A military medical relief unit arrived Thursday to cheers from the COVID-afflicted staff at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford. The 20 U.S. Air Force nurses, physicians and other medical workers will work to ease the burden on the hospital’s diminished staff. The contingent is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s nationwide “surge response” program. (Leavenworth, 2/10)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio National Guard Departs From Local Hospitals
Ohio National Guard members who spent weeks aiding health workers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the Christ Hospital during the winter COVID-19 surge departed the area Friday as the virus's impact continues to wane in the area. Nearly 90 guard members assisted health workers at UCMC in Corryville while another 50 were deployed to Christ's Mount Auburn location. As hospitals were pushed to the brink during the rapid community spread of the omicron variant, the guard was heralded by executives for its assistance in ancillary tasks that took some stress off of health workers. Most guard members served in nonclinical capacities except for 10 medics assigned to aid the emergency department at UCMC and 10 more medics at the Christ Hospital. (Sutherland, 2/11)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

CIDRAP: With Low COVID Vaccine Uptake, Rural US Bore Brunt Of Delta Surge 
Rural US counties with low COVID-19 vaccination rates had 2.4 times more infections per 100,000 people than urban counties amid the summer 2021 Delta surge, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. A team led by University of Cincinnati researchers conducted an ecological data visualization analysis using Johns Hopkins University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data to investigate the link between rates of COVID-19 vaccination and Delta COVID-19 infections from Jul 1 to Aug 31. Colorado, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia were excluded from the study because their vaccination data were incomplete or unreliable. (Van Beusekom, 2/11)

KHN: Covid Precautions Are Part Of Hispanic Community’s Efforts To Tend To Community Good 
On a snowy January morning, Luis Portillo stood in line on the side of a busy road in Silver Spring, Maryland — a suburb just north of Washington, D.C. — with about 200 other people, waiting for his turn to get tested for covid-19 at Mary’s Center, a federally qualified health center. Portillo, a 65-year-old bakery worker originally from El Salvador, jammed his hands in his coat pockets and shivered in the 25-degree weather. Though Portillo is not particularly concerned about covid — he is vaccinated and boosted and had a mild case last year — he came out because it’s necessary to “look after yourself as much as you can” to prevent infecting others who may be more vulnerable, he said in Spanish. After he developed symptoms following a holiday party and found out another partygoer had tested positive, Portillo decided he needed a test. He was concerned about exposing co-workers or his four housemates, who have remained symptom-free. (True, 2/14)

The Baltimore Sun: Post-COVID Conditions, COVID Long-Haulers Still Baffle Researchers 
Kels Rosario tested positive for COVID-19 before there was a vaccine and again after he got the shots. He suspects an illness at the beginning of the pandemic also was caused by the coronavirus. One bout was enough to send him to the hospital four times and turn his mild asthma into a persistent lung issue requiring him to breathe in medication morning and night through a portable inhaler. He also has such “puffers” at the ready around his home and car and at friends’ houses. “They’re stashed everywhere because I feared I wouldn’t get to one in time,” he said. “With the weather a little colder, I use them a little more frequently during the week.” (Cohn, 2/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Greatest Danger Of COVID During Pregnancy Is Not To Baby But To Mom
Studies show the womb of a mother infected with the coronavirus is generally safe for the fetus because the placenta usually stops the pathogen from entering. That’s different from some other viruses, including zika and rubella, that can cross the barrier and attack the baby in utero. Catching the virus does increase the chance that a woman will deliver a stillborn baby, a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in November. Although the stillborn rate was higher for women who were infected than for those who were not, it was still low, at less than 1%. The study also identified a jump in the rate of stillborns, to 2.7%, during the period when the delta variant emerged last summer. But such risks remain rare. (Asimov, 2/13