Maintaining optimism amid a worldwide threat

Please don’t mistake my optimism for naivety or for glibness. The threat from COVID-19 is still real and still present and will impact all of us, some directly through sickness and, yes, death. But, as we close out 2022, there is reason for optimism.

The speed that omicron is spreading is certainly something to be concerned about, but we should look to the hospitalization numbers for hope. While omicron has led to more breakthrough infections and should make us question the continued efficacy of masking, it has not led to a dramatic increase in hospitalizations.

The vaccines, brought to the public in record time in 2020, are working to keep thousands out of the hospital. The concern is, even a small percentage of a really large number of people is still a really large number — more than 4,000 in state hospitals — but so far, our efforts to vaccinate and then booster are working to preserve life. We would not have been able to say that two years ago. Vaccine efficacy against hospitalization is over 90% for all age groups and is over 97% for those over 65 years old.

New for 2022, Pfizer’s at-home treatment just received FDA approval and will be available in January. It’s remarkable. In two years, we’ve gone from a virus that threatened to leave millions dead to one that, despite spreading quickly, is diminished thanks to our medical professionals and scientists.

We now have effective vaccines, treatments that will keep you out of the hospital and, from all reports, a variant that, while very contagious, is not as deadly. I say that with caution because it’s unclear why omicron appears that way, but that’s what the data points to now.

Throughout this pandemic, one bright spot is the level of natural protection children have had against COVID-19, unlike measles, mumps and rubella. We will always err on the side of caution when it comes to children, but I am thankful that children have been largely spared from illness even while bearing some of the largest ramifications of government intervention to stop the spread of the virus. This has been a blessing, and I am thankful.

There are arguments that omicron will spread throughout the U.S., infecting pretty much the entire population. With much of the nation returning to large gatherings and traveling across the country and around the world, it’s hard to say that assessment is wrong.

I’m thankful that we have the tools to mitigate the damage a virus as contagious as that can do. I’m also thankful that the idea we can lockdown against the spread of this disease has been largely disproven with President Joe Biden and most governors saying that they will not support further lockdown efforts.

None of this forgets that families have suffered loss. Forty-seven people in Tompkins County have died from this virus. Their loss is felt by everyone, most acutely by their families who are celebrating their first holidays without their loved ones. I’ve spent the past month reminiscing about the friends I’ve lost this year, and my prayers certainly go to those families.

While we should not lose sight of those losses, we should also recognize the story in Tompkins County is one of success. It might be hard to see because the case numbers have exploded because of omicron. And yet, we did manage to flatten the curve, enough to get most of our population vaccinated, particularly our most vulnerable.

We were able to buy time to prepare our hospitals and discover how vulnerable our children were or were not. We have put off the worst-case scenario to a time when a cure will be available in weeks. We are now preparing for the next variant. We are having meaningful discussions on the future of masking, in-person schooling, vaccine mandates, their legality and if they should or should not be imposed or if they’ll be effective.

As of this writing, almost 82,000 people out of about 104,000 in the county have their first vaccination. Many more have reached some level of immunity by having the virus and recovering. We will reach a point where this pandemic will be endemic and something to live with. My hope is that when that happens, COVID-19 will be far down the scale of dangerous viruses. There’s no promise of that, but I’m optimistic.

Republican View appears monthly in Tompkins Weekly. Send questions, comments and story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.