Possible new variant in KY nursing home outbreak, but vax has good efficacy
Lhttps://www.fox19.com/2021/03/16/live-gov-beshear-updates-vaccine-rollout-covid-response-kentucky/
"A nursing home in Eastern Kentucky is suffering from an outbreak of COVID-19 involving what is possibly a new variant of the virus with Kentucky origins.
Some 41 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility, including 14 staff and 27 residents. It is unclear whether all those who tested positive have the new variant.
According to Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack, the new variant is not one of the known variants circulating among populations in different parts of the world, such as the UK variant, the Brazil variant or the South Africa variant.
Stack did not comment on whether the new variant is more contagious or deadly, but suggested more genetic sequencing is required to draw any conclusions about it.
....
The good news is those who have gotten it and have been vaccinated have not gotten seriously ill,” Beshear said. “But this is something we have to watch as we move forward.”
“Vaccinations appear to have markedly reduced symptomatic disease,” Stack added.
Case in point: Thirty-one percent of unvaccinated residents (4 in 13) have been hospitalized since the outbreak began. Just one of 71 vaccinated residents has required hospitalization in the same span.
More, among those infected with the virus who have been vaccinated, just 30 percent have shown symptoms. Meanwhile, among those infected with the virus who have not been vaccinated, 83 percent have shown symptoms.
“Vaccination appears to be doing exactly what we hoped it would,” Stack said, “protecting people from severe illness and hopefully protecting them from death.”
The outbreak appears to have started, according to Stack, when an unvaccinated person brought COVID-19 into the facility. He did not say whether that person was a visitor or a staff member.
Compared to the 85 percent of residents vaccinated, just 48 percent of staff at the facility had gotten the vaccine."...(more)