Illustration by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash.

Del Norte Public Health officials confirmed the presence of "so-called British" COVID-19 variant, Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Rehwaldt announced Tuesday.

In a letter to the community, Rehwaldt said the B.1.1.7 variant, which was detected in the United Kingdom in December, is thought to be more aggressive and potentially more lethal. He said a New York variant, B.1.526, has also been detected in Del Norte County.

Five new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Del Norte County on Tuesday making for a total of 46 active cases, according to the Public Health Branch. There have been a total of 61 new cases identified in Del Norte in the last two weeks, according to the Public Health Branch.

No one is in the hospital currently, according to the Public Health Branch.

From Rehwaldt's Tuesday letter:

According to the CDC database, we have now vaccinated over half our seniors, and over 20% of the adult population. Those are both good milestones to have reached, even though we would like to see
those numbers a bit higher. There is a COVID vaccine glut at the moment, because demand has diminished, so this is actually an excellent time to get off the fence and seek out a vaccine. The shots are widely available in Del Norte County, through the local health department clinics at the fairgrounds, as well as some of our local medical offices and local pharmacies. Nearly all our local pharmacy stores now offer vaccines.

And also in the news is a good reason to get off the fence and get vaccinated. We have confirmed the presence of B.1.1.7, the so-called “British variant” in Del Norte, concurrent with the announcement from Humboldt County of the same variant within their borders. We have known for some time that the “California” variant has been active in Del Norte, but the B.1.1.7 variant is thought to be more aggressive in ability to infect people, and consequently, potentially more lethal. As an aside, to remind people how fast things can change, the “New York” variant (B.1.526) has also arrived as a single case with our last round of testing.

It's not surprising to us, we have always assumed that these variants would arrive in our county at some point, and since the B.1.1.7 variant is the most widely distributed around the country, it was going to take hold here sooner or later. It has picked up activity statewide, as well. Fortunately, our vaccines are protective for both of these variants and the California variant. So, there is more reason than before to get a COVID vaccine done, and done as soon as possible. Even a single dose of a two dose vaccine can offer some protection.

Up until very recently, getting the virus and having a bad outcome has been a matter of bad luck, but from now on, it is more a matter of a choice. Any risk of a vaccine must be weighed against the risk of an infection, and pretty much across the board, the vaccine risk is less, and is much less for those who are at high risk of a bad outcome from catching the virus. The vaccine track record has been excellent, overall, especially for the main two vaccines that we have had here (Moderna and Pfizer) and we have been using them for almost 6 months, with literally hundreds of millions of doses given around the world, with almost no kind of consequence.

Even the Janssen vaccine (Johnson and Johnson) has had a good track record overall. We have had all 3 vaccines available in Del Norte, and we think that we will have Pfizer vaccine in the community once again very soon; this is especially important news for 16-17 year olds who want to get the vaccine, and for other teens once they vaccine is approved for emergency use in younger teens.

And a word about the Janssen vaccine and its recent issue of blood clots. This is definitely a new and important discovery about the Janssen vaccine, but it is also important to understand that the issue is a very rare problem, and seems to happen almost exclusively in women of relatively young age. The experts think that this vaccine should still be used, because of all the advantages that it has over the others that are available. If anyone is concerned about the possibility of a blood clot, there are other choices. Janssen vaccine is still available in our community, through several pharmacies as well as ourselves and our main clinical offices. If you have any doubts, take the time to talk it over with your medical provider.

And finally, we want people to understand that the pandemic is not over, no matter how much we want it to be done. We have been impacted by variants of the virus, probably since late February, and we are pretty certain that these variants are in part accounting for our recent disease activity levels. But we also want people to understand that the biggest thing we see the most to account for our number of cases is simply people letting their guard down.

People have been telling us with their stories about how they caught the virus, that too many of our residents are taking too many chances with the disease. “COVID fatigue” is what everyone calls this, and rightfully so. We are getting very close, but we don’t want to take a wrong turn at the end of the trip. We have been very fortunate in Del Norte County, but other places around the country and around the world have had very different experiences. We don’t want to even take a chance at heading in that direction.

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