PD Editorial: Stay prepared for another COVID wave

The omicron surge is a fading memory, and maybe the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has finally passed.

Maybe.

Yet a new subvariant, dubbed “stealth omicron,” is driving up case counts in Europe and Asia. It also has been detected in the United States, including at least 15 cases here in Sonoma County. Just this week, public health authorities recommended another booster shot for people everyone over 50 as well as for anyone with compromised immunity. Meanwhile, approximately 1 in 4 Americans has yet to get even one COVID vaccination.

No one wants a return to mask mandates and strict limits on public gatherings.

But Americans are still living with the risk of COVID — and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. Where public health officials once talked about achieving herd immunity and eradicating COVID, they now describe the virus as endemic, something we must risk contracting, like influenza or the common cold.

The goal now is to limit the virus’ impact, so the ongoing need for test kits, vaccines and therapeutics is obvious. Whenever and wherever case counts begin to rise, public health officials must react quickly to stop the virus’ momentum. Past failures to prepare resulted in damaging shortages of medical supplies, personal protective equipment and test kits.

Yet instead of using the current lull to replenish resources, Congress cut COVID funding out of the appropriations bill sent to President Joe Biden in March. As a result, readiness efforts are being scaled back.

The federal government has reduced distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments and stopped accepting reimbursement claims for COVID tests and treatment from uninsured Americans. Claims for vaccine reimbursements will be cut off next week, and the Biden administration warned that it lacks funding for advance orders of vaccines. It’s possible that reformulated vaccines will be needed if a new variant arises, so research efforts must continue.

Biden originally asked for $22.5 billion — barely 1% of the $1.5 trillion in the spending bill — for ongoing efforts to combat the virus. Congress trimmed that figure to $15.6 billion, and then pulled the money from the bill because Republicans insisted on cutting elsewhere to cover COVID expenditures and congressional Democrats and governors objected to a proposal to pay for them by cutting aid to states.

The failure to compromise threatens to undermine progress toward ending the pandemic.

“We can’t wait until we find ourselves in the midst of another surge to act,” Biden said Wednesday. “It’ll be too late.”

Congress put $24 billion more than Biden requested in this year’s defense budget. Surely, they can find a way to pay for vaccinations, treatment and prevention.

A plan circulating in the Senate on Thursday would allocate $10 billion for coronavirus readiness, with a reduction in funding for global vaccination efforts.

That’s better than nothing. But it is a gamble: Vaccination rates lag even further behind in much of the world, and the delta and omicron variants, which caused COVID spikes in the United States, originated in other countries.

No one knows if there will be another surge. For individuals, the best defense still is getting vaccinated and, as recommended, getting boosters. Congress, meanwhile, must find funding for immediate needs and develop mechanisms, with funding, to detect and deter infectious diseases. After all, isn’t public health a matter of national security?

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