As the state and nation continue to move out of their highest coronavirus levels in two years, discussions suggesting the pandemic may be nearing an end have increased, but Mark Hamed of the Michigan Board of Medicine says it might be too early to say for sure.
“It is too early to call it and say we are over it,” Hamed said. “I know we want to get over this pandemic and move on to normal life — and we definitely should move on to normal life — but I am cautiously optimistic.”
Hamed isn’t reporting from a bird’s eye view, but from the trenches as a practicing physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and emergency room and hospital medical director at McKenzie Health in Sandusky.
Hamed also serves as the medical director for Tuscola and Sanilac counties, along with District Health Department No. 2 in Northeast Michigan and is the medical director for the Upper Thumb region in the state.
“We are still seeing cases of COVID,” Hamed said. “We are seeing, for the most part, mild cases. But I will tell you a lot of people are still assuming it can’t be COVID, but it is.”
In recent weeks Michigan has seen a steady decline in coronavirus cases, and last week only saw approximately 6,000 new cases reported, compared to the pandemic record 129,000 cases reported seven weeks earlier.
“Omicron threw people for a loop because it was a lot more contagious, but a lot less serious,” he said. “The kicker is this might be how it is going to be from now on.”
With an omicron sub-variant being tracked around the world, the situation could rapidly change again, but Hamed is hopeful early data is correct, and it doesn’t.
“The new variant that is out there, the BA.2, I think we are going to see the same thing and is more contagious, it will creep up over time to our community and, honestly, I think we will have a lot of immunity to it,” Hamed said. “The big question is ‘Is it more severe?’ and the data says no.”
The BA.2, dubbed as the “stealth” omicron because of the difficulty differentiating it from the delta variant. However, it is more transmissible than delta and the original omicron variant, and some have suggested it should have its own Greek letter designation. Currently, the World Health Organization suggests 36% of the omicron cases in recent weeks are actually the sub-variant.
Hamed has previously warned of the possibility of new variants. He said a warmer weather variant, which could spread through the summer months, could be a concern because to survive warm weather it would be more hardy and resistant to treatment.
Hamed said it is unclear if there is or will be herd immunity.
According to the Mayo Clinic, herd immunity occurs when the majority of the community becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of the disease unlikely, and in turn protecting the whole community. However, Hamed said it is unclear if herd immunity will be possible with COVID, because it also requires long-term immunity, and there isn’t enough data to show that COVID immunity lasts long-term.
“We cannot say for sure that we have long-lasting immunity to this,” he said. “With omicron, we aren’t seeing the same level of illness, and the milder cases might not have long-lasting immunity.”
With spring break around the corner, Hamed suggests people have a good time and live their normal life, but be careful.
“Avoid people who are sick, choose outdoor activities, and use caution,” he said. “If you have symptoms, then stay home. That is a key thing, self-ownership, if you have symptoms act upon it.”
Hamed said he has had patients who, despite a positive COVID test, didn’t want to quarantine or didn’t want to cancel travel plans.
“Don’t expose other people to COVID if you have it,” he said. “Be careful and be mindful. Use the resources that are out there. We have effective vaccines, effective at preventing what they are supposed to — severe illness and death.”
Hamed said that although omicron was considered very mild, he saw a large number of patients who were unvaccinated and hadn’t had COVID previously, that got very sick. Meanwhile, he saw patients who were vaccinated and had omicron, that weren’t sick enough to require hospitalization.
Don’t rely on monoclonal antibody therapy to treat COVID, Hamed said, because the therapy might not work against every variant. Hamed has also previously warned that the therapy is only possible when the COVID diagnosis is within the first five days.
Ultimately, Hamed hopes people will choose to be tested if they are sick, and stay home to avoid exposing other
Hamed said pandemics typically end as viruses become milder, and more able to be controlled medically. Hamed said the key to moving from a pandemic stage to an endemic stage is how people behave.
“The most important part is to take more self-ownership, if you are sick get tested,” Hamed said. “Be honest with yourself and if you aren’t feeling right and are sick stay at home. Don’t go to work or school.”
However, the responsibility doesn’t just fall on individuals, according to Hamed. He said businesses should continue to keep policies in place to provide sick time to their employees, so they are able to stay home when they are sick.
“I don’t think it is fair that we tell people to take time off of work but don’t provide them a way to do so,” Hamed said. “From an employee level, I know that hospitals are no longer offering hazard pay or COVID pay, and then they want you to stay home if you are sick. Then you burn through your (paid time off) and what do you do?”
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