COVID-19 active cases trended downward this past week in Pecos County for the first time since the Omicron variant began to spike locally on Dec. 28.

Active cases reached an all-time high of 282 people in the county as reported on Jan. 6. That number has since dropped to 266 people as of Jan. 11.

Six Pecos County residents were reported to be hospitalized at facilities outside of the county and two additional residents were hospitalized at Pecos County Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Harry Shen – one of the lead physicians treating COVID-19 patients at PCMH – said that on average the Omicron variant has been less severe than the previous Delta and Alpha variants in the patients they have seen.

Symptoms show similarities to the common cold and hospitalizations rates have dropped drastically compared to early stages of the pandemic.

“That’s the thing about the illness we’re seeing, it does appear to require less hospitalizations. A lot of the folks who may have got some vaccines, they may have had a previous infection, what we have noticed is that the people who are getting booster shots tend to have much less significant symptoms. It’ll be like a cold or cough,” Shen said. “We are noticing folks that have had the vaccine but have not been boostered, they may be admitted but not for COVID. There is some other thing going on (with them), dehydrated, they are here for other reasons. Folks that are unvaccinated are kind of the same, they may come in short of breath/need oxygen.”

Medications help combat virus

At the beginning of last week, PCMH physicians began to prescribe medications to help subdue the virus for individuals with pre-existing conditions.

Paxlovid had been given to 10 Pecos County residents as of Jan. 7 and the medication will continue to be prescribed at the physician’s discretion.

“That is medication that appears to be very effective. So, we’re trying to roll that out as quickly as we can. We’ve been giving that in coordination with our walk-in clinic, all our clinics here, as well as with Cactus Clinic from the ones I’ve talked to and ER,” Shen said. “If someone is sick enough or has the risk factors and is not quite sick enough, they’re usually going to be offered that as an option.”

According the FDA, Paxlovid is an investigational medicine used to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and children (12 years of age and older weighing at least 88 pounds) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. Paxlovid is investigational because it is still being studied.

The medication is for under emergency use authorization and not for everybody. It is only for use for people at higher risk and in the course of illness they would benefit from it (within five days of symptom onset).

Other medications and treatments available for particular circumstances are sotrovimab, remdesivir, and moinupiravir.

Booster numbers on the rise

As the Omicron variant surges throughout the county, vaccinations rates have continued to rise across the board.

First doses, second doses, and booster shots given to Pecos County residents rose by approximately 1% each since Dec. 28.

There are 10,250 residents in the county who have received one dose of the vaccine, 8,930 fully vaccinated, and 2,744 that have received a booster shot.

That translates to 61% of vaccine eligible residents being fully vaccinated and 18.7% that have received a booster shot.