Health officials urge vaccination as possible surge approaches

Cases of COVID-19 in the Hill and Blanie county areas continue to trickle in as the rate of new cases doubles in many parts of the U.S., and Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Berg as well as Blaine County Public Health Nurse Jana McPherson-Hauer are urging residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible in preparation for a possible surge this fall.

The surge has the potential to be exacerbated by the Delta variant of COVID-19 now circulating through the U.S. and recently found in Blaine County.

Berg said, as of 5 p.m. last Thursday, six people in the county that the department knows of have COVID-19 and one is actively hospitalized.

While reinfection numbers are not available at the moment the county has also seen at least 10 breakthrough cases as well.

Christen Obresley, administrator at Northern Montana Care Center, said every case in her facility was a breakthrough case including those in residents and staff, the former of which is completely vaccinated and the vast majority of the latter is as well.

Officials say the more people who are vaccinated, the less likely breakthrough cases will occur as the spread of the virus slows. A study also found evidence that breakthrough cases are likely to have milder symptoms and are less likely to spread the virus.

Berg said the health department's concerns regarding the possible surge are primarily based on general infection trends which indicate that fall will be worse for infections of all kinds, including influenza and norovirus.

"We're all inside, schools are opening up again and it's just easier to spread those germs," she said.

Berg said while COVID-19 may not follow all the typical trends of infection, last year's surge in fall indicates that a seasonal uptick is likely, and depending on its intensity, could be a huge problem.

"We don't want to see another fall like last year," she said. "I don't even know what we would do at this point."

McPherson-Hauer said her department - as well as Berg's - is preparing for the surge. She thinks it's very unlikely that it will be quite as bad as last fall given that around half of Blaine County is vaccinated.

She said she's not especially worried about their resources and personnel being strained, in part because their local government is very supportive of their efforts, but she is concerned that the Delta variant could make the surge worse.

"We are concerned about what the Delta variant or subsequent variants can do to that," she said.

In a release sent out last week, her department announced that a case that has since recovered was confirmed to be of the Delta variant, which McPherson-Hauer said isn't cause for panic but should be a reminder for the community to stay safe and keep using prevention measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - primarily vaccination - despite the county's relatively low case load.

"We are not an exception to the troubles that the pandemic is bringing to communities," she said.

Neither the Delta nor Delta-plus variants of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Hill County, but their spread worldwide is still a significant concern for the Hill and Blaine county health departments.

The variants are more easily transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19 and are capable of causing more severe symptoms in younger people and lead to worse outcomes, including death.

Berg said the more chance the virus has to be transmitted the more chance it has to mutate and the more variants like this, including possibly vaccine-resistant variants, will come into existence, which she said is all the more reason to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"We don't want to see any more variant," she said. "It can get pretty smart."

Berg said the fact that the virus is attacking younger and younger people is horrible, but she hopes because of that people are beginning to understand how important vaccination is for young people, and that they act on that understanding.

She said it appears that one of the primary drivers of low vaccination rates among young people is the fact that they have less options in terms of which vaccine they can get and consequently fewer opportunities to get it.

She also said the initial push to prioritize the elderly in the vaccine's initial distribution, while the right thing to do, had the consequence of giving young people the impression that they weren't in danger.

Berg said young people, while far less likely to get seriously ill, were still dying even before the Delta variants, but it was not nearly as common relative to other age groups, a situation that is changing.

She said she's hoping, between the increasing awareness about the Delta variants, vaccines getting approved for younger and younger people and back-to-school vaccination programs, that the problem may be alleviated, though she didn't appear confident that it would significantly boost the county's near-stagnant vaccination rate of 45 percent.

"I don't know if the overall percentage will go up, but it does mean more people vaccinated," she said.

Berg said the fact that the county's vaccination rate is still so low is a problem as well, especially if the fall ends up being as bad as they fear.

She said every person who gets vaccinated is a victory and people still come in every week, but the county is not even close to herd immunity and if a surge happens in the fall, those vaccinations will not prevent its spread.

She said the the department is continuing its efforts to promote the vaccines and educate people about its effectiveness and safety.

Blaine County is a bit ahead of Hill, with just over 50 percent of their eligible population vaccinated and vaccination among young people in the high 30s, which McPherson-Hauer said was encouraging, especially given the strides some age groups have seen in her county in the past three months despite a general slowdown in demand.

She said her department is shooting for at least 50 percent in every age group by the end of the summer, a goal she's not sure they'll reach, but is worth trying for.

Both departments are trying their best to supply the public with the most accurate, up-to-date information they can, educating people about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, but both face the problem of having their information drowned out by misinformation which, McPherson-Hauer said, is their biggest problem, and makes for a frustrating situation.

"That's our biggest challenge," she said.

She said in looking back through history, it's not uncommon for a new vaccine to have trouble finding enough people to reach herd immunity early on, but it is unheard of to see a vaccine having this much trouble while the disease it aims to eliminate is at pandemic levels.

"It's unimaginable to me," she said.

McPherson-Hauer stressed that her frustration is not so much directed at individual skeptics, but rather the general situation and just how much misinformation there is and how it spreads so quickly online.

Berg echoed this sentiment and said skepticism about a new vaccine developed in such a short time is understandable and she wants people to ask questions and not blindly believe it just because they say so.

She said the department is prepared to explain how the vaccine works, and why it's safe, and if they don't want to talk to the department, they can talk to their primary care provider.

McPherson-Hauer said word of mouth between friends is also important.

She said people are more likely to believe their friends than any given government agency and telling people that the vaccine is effective, safe, and will help protect their families from COVID-19 is always helpful to public health.

Unfortunately, the misinformation about the vaccine still runs rampant online, something U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently issued his first Surgeon General's Advisory on, warning the American public that the massive proliferation of health misinformation has become a threat to public health.

An email from the department regarding the advisory said misinformation, including disinformation, has threatened the U.S. response to COVID-19 and continues to prevent Americans from getting vaccinated, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have been exposed to a wide range of misinformation about masks and social distancing, treatments, and vaccines," the email says. "As of late May, 67 percent of unvaccinated adults had heard at least one COVID-19 vaccine myth and either believed it to be true or were not sure of its veracity.

"Health misinformation has already caused significant harm, dividing families and communities and undermining vaccination efforts. An analysis of millions of social media posts found that false news stories were 70 percent more likely to be shared than true stories. And a recent study showed that even brief exposure to misinformation made people less likely to want a COVID-19 vaccine," Murthy said.

The advisory encourages technology and social media companies to take more responsibility to stop online spread of health misinformation and what can be done to prevent further harm to the public.

"Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health," Murthy said. "It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic."

Berg said there will always be people that can't be reached and will reject science regardless of evidence, but her department will never stop trying to educate and inform the public.

"You can't just give up," she said.

She said vaccines are one of the most significant improvements to quality and length of life worldwide.

Berg said the department is looking into what they are allowed to do in terms of offering possible incentive to people who may be on the fence about getting vaccinated, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't gotten back to them.

Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods is entering people who get COVID-19 vaccines at their pharmacy through the month into a drawing for a $100 gift card to the store, with winners to be announced Aug. 2.