Southwest Health System in Cortez is preparing for an upsurge in omicron after a random sample of COVID-19 tests in Colorado last week attributed all positive cases to the fast-spreading variant.

The strain has emerged at an unprecedented rate, replacing delta as the predominant variant of coronavirus, said Marc Meyer, director of pharmacy services and infection control at Southwest Health System.

“Maybe this is a good thing that we’re starting to see more omicron and less delta variant so far. We’ll keep our fingers crossed on that,” he said Wewdnesday during a Southwest Health System Facebook Live panel. The virtual meeting also featured Southwest Health Lab Director Alan Laird and was facilitated by public information officer Cliff Rivard.

While Meyer was cautiously hopeful that the variant won’t produce as many hospitalizations as delta, he believes it will spread fast and incite breakthrough cases of the virus.

Southwest Health System anticipates a protection rate of about 36% for people who are vaccinated but not boosted, and about a 70-75% protection rate for people who have received booster shots. The risk of acquiring omicron for unvaccinated individuals is “extremely high because of its infectious nature,” Meyer said.

Meyer recommended masking in public, and along with Laird, discussed the varying levels of effectiveness of different types of masks, referring to a chart published in the Wall Street Journal that sourced data from ACGIH’s Pandemic Response Task Force. That chart showed that virus transmission between two people not wearing masks takes about 15 minutes, two people wearing cloth masks 27 minutes, two people wearing surgical masks one hour, and two people wearing N95 masks 25 hours.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment clarified that not all COVID-19 samples that it cited in its weekly report were whole genome sequenced.

Before CDPHE’s data for the week of Dec. 26, about 76% of the state’s random samples showed omicron cases, compared with almost 32% the week of Dec. 12 and 1.42% the week of Dec. 5.

Omicron was first recorded in state tests the week of Nov. 28, when 0.11% of tests represented the COVID-19 variant.

Currently, the COVID-19 death rate is down 50% in the United States, Meyer said.

“Some of the concerns around omicron are not as much that it’s going to kill people, but if we’re infecting a million people we’re going to see deaths,” Meyer said in the broadcast discussion.

He expressed concern that a large outbreak at Southwest Memorial Hospital would lead to a decline in available services.

For the first time in years, Southwest Memorial is fully staffed with physicians and providers, he said.

The hospital had one extra bed Tuesday, and has run full with other procedures, he said in Wednesday’s Facebook Live.

Laird said the hospital hast stockpiled enough testing “to carry us through this omicron wave.”

The hospital is offering free home tests at the outpatient pharmacy, and has drive-thru testing at the EMS building Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Meyer said some antigen tests are effective in identifying omicron, like the Abbott BinaxNOW and Quidel QuickVue, while some are “absolutely not.” However, a recent study, although not yet peer-reviewed, raises questions about the ability of those specific tests to detect omicron.

Meyer and Laird said the antigen tests are less effective for asymptomatic cases. True positive tests are more likely because of high transmission rates, Laird said. Consequently, false negatives are more likely, especially for those with symptoms, and Laird recommended following with a more sensitive PCR test.

On Dec. 27, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines, advising positive cases to isolate for five days. If after five days the symptoms disappear, the person may leave the house, but wear a mask around others for another five days.

The CDC directs exposed people to wear a mask around others for 10 days and to test on the fifth day.

Southwest Health likely will lean on “other protocols and other standards to get us through this and help us from spreading it,” Laird said, due to a lag in processed data from the state and waning availability of tests.

The hospital isn’t supplying monoclonal antibodies anymore, citing their ineffectiveness against omicron, Meyer said.

Meyer mentioned recent conflicting studies with Johnson and Johnson vaccine’s efficacy with omicron, and its link to rare blood clots.

"Mixing and matching“ booster shot brands with vaccine brands is OK, he said.

Since the start of the pandemic, 17 Monteuzma County residents have died because of COVID-19, and 57 have died with the virus in their system, according to CDPHE.

Since Dec. 31, the county has had 72 new cases of COVID-19, the data showed.

Meyer added that the symptoms of the regular flu are similar to COVID-19 – fever, chest tightness, aches and pains. Southwest tests patients for both, and sometimes patients have both the flu and COVID-19, he said.

As of Thursday evening, two individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 were hospitalized at Southwest Memorial, Meyer told The Journal.