Westchester Keeping An Eye On Omicron Variant News

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Medical experts and public officials in Westchester County are keeping a watchful eye on the emerging omicron variant of the coronavirus.

At his weekly news briefing Monday, County Executive George Latimer said any changes in protocol the county makes will be based on medical science.

"We won't operate out of fear," he said.

Latimer said the omicron variant has generated a tremendous amount of news quickly.

As it stands now, he said the county is in good shape to face the challenges the new variant could present.

Currently, there are 52 people in Westchester hospitalized with COVID-19-related illnesses. Last year at the same time, there were 244 people hospitalized, Latimer said.

The number of hospitalizations are even down from August when there were 108 people in hospitals.

"What's the difference?" he asked. "Vaccinations."

As of Sunday, Westchester has seen 92.2 percent of those 18 or older get at least one coronavirus vaccine shot.

The county is in good shape regarding hospital room availability also, Latimer said, with its 2,700 hospital rooms.

While not downplaying the fact that people have died — to date, there have been 2,356 fatalities from COVID-19 — the rate of deaths has decreased.

Latimer said there were 1,664 fatalities between March 2020 and December 2020. There have been 690 deaths this year.

In the last two weeks, there have been two fatalities, he said. There have been three deaths in the last three weeks.

Dr. Sherlita Amler, commissioner of the county's health department, said there is an awful lot that is not known about the omicron variant, which has been identified in 15 countries, including Canada. It has not yet been found in the United States.

"Over the next few weeks a lot of information will be coming out," she said, "and we will know a lot more."

Amler said the concerns about the latest variant include whether it will be more easily transmitted than the delta variant and whether the omicron variant will evade the protections vaccines have so far provided people.

She said there are no unusual symptoms found from the new variant — primarily fatigue, headache and muscle pain.

To the question about what people can do to protect themselves from the omicron variant, Amler said, since the dominant variant in the U.S. now is delta, it appears people should keep doing what they've been doing: social distancing, washing hands and wears masks.

She also said you should get vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as you can if you haven't already gotten the shot.

Amler added that the current PCR tests appear to be effective in detecting the omicron variant.