Just in time for the holiday season, a new variant of COVID-19 is causing a stir around the world.
“It’s a little premature to jump to conclusions on about this variant,” said Dr. Fred Venditti, hospital general director at Albany Medical Center.
The variant is called omicron. And while it has yet to be detected in the United States, the list of countries in which it has is growing.
What You Need To Know
- Local doctors say it is premature to jump to conclusions about the new COVID-19 variant omicron
- Experts say it'll be a few weeks before they understand whether it is a more transmissible strain
- News of the variant come as hospitals are seeing a spike in COVID-positive patients who are not vaccinated
“There is some concern that perhaps it's more transmissible and it spreads faster and it spreads faster than the Delta variant,” said Venditti. “But I think we’re going to need a few weeks before we understand whether that is indeed true.”
Albany Medical Center modified its visitation policy Monday due to COVID-19 infection rates that are already climbing around the Capital Region.
“As COVID increases in prevalence in the community, we want to protect patients,” he said.
Venditti said capacity is a topic of conversation daily at the hospital, where there were 48 COVID-positive patients as of Monday. Forty of them are not vaccinated and 13 people were being treated in intensive care.
“We’re paying attention, we’re tracking and we’re talking to the other hospitals in our region,” he said. “We talk a couple of times a week comparing notes.”
That includes Glens Falls Hospital, where there were 52 COVID-positive patients Monday. Eleven people were being treated in intensive care, two of which are on a ventilator.
“There was a very slight temporary dip in our census, but we’ve climbed right back up to about 200,” said Dr. Howard Fritz, chief medical officer at Glens Falls Hospital.
With a pre-holiday surge, Fritz said capacity was an area of concern prior to news of a new variant which he said will be detectable when and if it arrives in the Capital Region.
“The PCR tests are accurate,” he said. “And it appears we will be able to diagnose the new variant readily.”
Both doctors said they’ll be learning more about the variant in coming days and what sort of impact it could have on the region.
“In the meantime, let's do what we should be doing now,” said Fritz. “And that is be vaccinated, sanitize our hands and where masks when we’re going inside with groups of people.”
