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The latest wave of COVID-19 in Alaska, which continues to grow, involves a shocking new trend: younger, sometimes sicker hospital patients than older people who needed medical attention last year.
Last winter, as the peak of the coronavirus pandemic hit the state, infected patients seen by Dr Nick Papacostas in his Anchorage emergency room tended to be older, between 70 and 80 years old. .
Now, the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 is increasing the number of cases nationwide and in Alaska, where as of Friday just 44% of the total population was fully vaccinated.
And now Papacostas is seeing people in their 40s, 50s and 60s with more serious breathing problems, who need extra oxygen or even mechanical ventilation, he said. None are vaccinated.
“They are sicker and younger than we saw last year, requiring either hospitalization or intensive care admission,” said Papacostas, president of the Alaska section of the American College of Emergency Physicians. “They are really more intensive to treat because they are sicker.”
The state reported two new deaths in people with COVID-19 on Friday, both residents of Anchorage. One was a woman in her fifties. One was a man in his forties.
COVID-19 patients between the ages of 35 and 50 are presenting to the emergency room in greater numbers, are admitted and need more complicated care, according to hospital and health officials. Even those who don’t stay for long are at risk of complications like prolonged breathing difficulties or heart problems.
“What we are seeing is that hospitalizations are increasing among young people, not only in Alaska but nationally,” state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin said at a conference. press Thursday. “It probably has a lot to do with the fact that young people in general tend to be less vaccinated.”
In July, 36% of people hospitalized in Alaska with COVID-19 were under 50, up from 23% in November, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services. Those under 40 represent a quarter of patients, compared to 14% last year.
In last November’s statewide spike in cases, the average age of a hospitalized person was 63, according to Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer. Now it’s 56.
Zink offered a theory on the hospital trend during a science briefing on Wednesday: A youngster with more stamina can wait longer before seeking medical attention. At that point, their case is more advanced. She also wondered if these patients were aware of monoclonal antibody treatments that can minimize hospitalizations.
“Overall, our older population is more vaccinated than our younger population,” Zink said. “Younger bodies can usually fight longer.”
State data shows Alaskans in their 20s and 30s continue to rank first in terms of new cases. This aligns with vaccination trends, according to health officials: People who choose to be vaccinated tend to be older and more medically vulnerable, while younger residents stay away. .
Almost 72% of Alaskans aged 65 and over are fully immunized. Since the start of the pandemic, people aged 60 and over have accounted for 84% of the 382 deaths of state residents reported on Friday.
Based on an average of seven days of daily new cases, people under the age of 60 accounted for about three-quarters of new infections, according to state data. Just over 30% were people between 20 and 39 years old and 21% were between 40 and 59 years old.
Cases in children are also on the rise, partly because there are more tests in this age group, but also because vaccination is not yet available for those under 12, officials say. state health. There have only been 17 children hospitalized with COVID-19 since March 2020, although some have been sick enough to require intubation.
Overall, vaccination rates in Alaska have stalled even with the increase in the number of cases.
According to Matt Bobo, director of the state’s immunization program, state data shows just under 1,000 daily doses per day in June and July, with “small spots” on weekends when more people have time to get vaccinated.
“This trend is pretty much flat now,” Bobo said in a briefing this week.
However, some communities are experiencing local increases, like Sitka where there is a large outbreak of COVID-19 that started after July 4. At the start of the week, half of the 18 patients at Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center had COVID-19, hospital officials said at a recent press conference.
Three-quarters of new cases in Sitka over a two-week period were in people under the age of 50.
“Cases in the community and in the hospital are a younger demographic than they were last fall,” said Dr Elliot Bruhl, chief medical officer of the Southeastern Regional Health Consortium. Alaska. “Perhaps this stems from the fact that they are the least vaccinated group in the country.”
It’s possible that the delta variant is one of the reasons medical providers are seeing sicker patients, they say, but it’s too early to be sure.
Internal research from the Centers for Disease Control obtained by news outlets this week indicates that the variant causes more serious illness and spreads as easily as chickenpox.
The delta variant brings another new wrinkle: infected vaccinated people can transmit the virus just as easily as those who are not immune. These findings helped prompt a new CDC recommendation this week that all people, including those vaccinated, mask themselves in indoor public spaces in parts of the country with high levels of COVID-19 transmission. This includes all of Alaska, although some individual communities have a lower spread.
Papacostas, along with the American College of Emergency Physicians, is wondering if the delta variant may be the cause of the most dangerous infections in the patients he sees, although that is only speculation at this point.
“It seems he’s more efficient at making more copies of himself,” he said. “Maybe their viral load is making the disease more serious?” I feel like this is the only way to explain it.
People who have been vaccinated can spread the virus, there is increasing evidence. Two recent outbreaks in Juneau and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region included cases in people vaccinated, one-third and one-quarter of the total, respectively. In both places, those vaccinated reported milder symptoms.
But those vaccinated rarely need intensive care in hospitals, doctors say, so it doesn’t add strain on a health system operating at or near full capacity, especially in the south-central.
To date in Alaska, unvaccinated people account for 94% of all COVID-19 cases, 94% of all hospitalizations and 97% of all deaths, according to a weekly state update.
Hospitals are busy with the usual summer rush of injured Alaskans outside, visitors returning to the state after the pandemic delayed travel plans – and “for sure” cases of COVID-19, the Dr Lisa Rabinowitz, a state health department doctor who worked a few emergency shifts last week, said at a briefing.
“It’s devastating as a provider to see patients arriving in the emergency room when we know we have vaccines available,” Rabinowitz said.
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