COVID-19 testing opportunities in Gasconade County are improving with additional rapid home tests which have been distributed to area organizations and are available free of charge. 

“If you are not feeling well, please send someone who is feeling well to pick up a test for you,” said  Dr. Michael Rothermich, chief of staff at Hermann Area District Hospital. 

Newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in Gasconade County reported to the state “continued their precipitous decline to pre-Omicron surge levels last week” with only 15 new cases of COVID identified at testing centers, Rothermich reports. 

These included 13 positives by PCR and two by rapid antigen testing.

Rothermich, who has been tracking trends throughout the pandemic, examined a question public health experts are studying how best to monitor COVID in communities going forward — given the sudden widespread availability of at home testing.

“Some are recommending just looking at the number of urgent care visits, hospitalizations, and deaths, but others warn that those data lag behind new cases by days to weeks,” Rothermich notes this week. “I will continue to report the official new case counts for at least the next few weeks but may switch to a different type of reporting if that seems more beneficial to people wanting to know what’s going on around here.”  

According to Rothermich, statewide hospitalization and ICU stays have continued to drop but remain at high levels, with about 85 percent of inpatient and ICU hospital beds full. Throughout the pandemic, extra beds for COVID patients have been set-up in hospitals and ICUs temporarily.

These were often staffed by nurses pulled from other areas of the organization.  As this surge is passing, many of these temporary beds are being closed, and those staff are going back to their regular areas of work in the hospital — such as elective surgery. 

“Unfortunately, this means that we continue to struggle to find open hospital and ICU beds for patients from our community that need a higher level of care than our hospital can provide,” he said.

Hermann Area District Hospital continues to distribute the oral COVID antiviral medications Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, with good supplies of both medications on hand for distribution primarily through HADH clinics.

Rothermich noted that to be effective, either medication must be started within five days of symptom onset.

“If you were recently diagnosed with COVID-19, please contact your healthcare provider to see if you are eligible for either of these medications,” said Rothermich.  

COVID-19 vaccination update

The FDA has postponed approval of vaccines for children under 5 for at least a few more months, Rothermich notes.

Children age 5-11 currently eligible for vaccine are given one-third (1/3) the adult dose of the Pfizer vaccine. For younger children, an even lower dose is being studied one-tenth (1/10th) the adult dose. However, initial review of that study seems to suggest that going that low in dosing is too low to generate a protective immune response with only two shots.

“They picked such a low dose in the hope of minimizing side effects — which in the study were very low as expected,” he noted, “However, giving two shots at this low of a dose does not appear to protect from infection or hospitalization in this age group. Study results of three shots of the one-tenth dose are not yet complete and are hoped to be available by April.”