The Rev. Mark E. Whitlock Jr., senior pastor of Reid Temple AME Church, decided to devote his entire early morning virtual service on Friday to the coronavirus as soon as he heard about the latest variant of concern.
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While little is known about omicron, Whitlock wanted parishioners at the Prince George’s County megachurch to have a space to talk about concerns and roadblocks to getting the vaccine, both spiritual and psychological.
“I have bated breath waiting for Dr. Fauci to give us more information,” he said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the omicron variant had not yet been detected in the United States, and public health officials adopted a posture of what one called “watchful waiting” as scientists worked to determine if vaccines are effective against the variant and whether omicron causes more severe disease.
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Labs across the region are sequencing positive samples in search of omicron, and officials are emphasizing the importance of mitigation measures like vaccines, mask-wearing and social distancing as they await guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We have net yet found the omicron variant in the United States, but we are confident that we will,” Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, said in a virtual news conference Tuesday afternoon. He added later: “I am expecting it any day now. I have been saying that for the past two days.”
The United States has restricted travel from South Africa and nearby countries, although some experts say the move will do little to curb the spread of the variant.
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The vast majority of virus circulating in the United States is the highly contagious delta variant, Becker said, “so we should be very concerned about delta as we continue to learn about omicron.”
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The seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 people is down sharply in the District and Virginia and flat in Maryland, according to The Washington Post Tracker, but pockets of the region have low vaccination rates, rendering the residents susceptible to covid-19 and all its variants.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said she has no plans to reinstate an indoor mask mandate that lifted Nov. 22, just as residents were gearing up for the winter holidays and indoor gatherings.
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“Covid has been evolving over the past 20 months, and as we’ve done over the past 20 months and if we get new information on the new variant, then we will respond accordingly, but we don’t have any changes at this point,” she told reporters Monday.
Representatives from school districts across the region, including in D.C., Alexandria City, and Arlington, Prince George’s County and Montgomery counties, said they are monitoring the situation and will keep their mask mandates in place.
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The Alexandria Health Department was already poised to encourage coronavirus testing because people get more illness and gather indoors more in the winter months, but omicron made that message all the more timely.
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“Until we have more details about this variant … we really just want to promote the things we know work against all types of [variants],” Natalie Talis, population health manager with the Alexandria Health Department, said of wearing masks, washing hands and staying home if sick.
“There are so many unknowns, which is a very familiar feeling during the last 20 months. Something happens and we don’t know much at first. Everyone wants clear simple guidance about how to protect themselves and their families,” she said.
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Colin Greene, a physician and the health director in charge of a large swath of Northwestern Virginia, including Winchester, said he was in a mode of “watchful waiting.”
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“They do pay me to look at the evidence and give a measured response,” he said. “Pending more information, the delta variant is still the main enemy.”
The delta variant was responsible for the worst coronavirus surge in parts of rural Virginia and West Virginia served by Valley Health. Jeffrey Feit, a physician and the community and population health manager, said numbers in those areas have come down, but not all the way down.
“We need to be patient and wait until we know a little more before we pivot our attention to omicron,” Feit said. Delta is still very dangerous to our community. … Our hospital volumes are up over the last six weeks, not down. I want to make sure we are really focused on the thing that’s right in front of us.”
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His biggest challenge remains keeping the emphasis on proven measures to reduce infection: get vaccinated and “be vigilant about inside winter gatherings with people who are unvaccinated and at higher risk,” he said.
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In Prince George’s County, another area hit hard by coronavirus, Whitlock of Reid Temple AME Church reflected on the joyful “but cautious” reopening of his sanctuary in August.
The church spent several thousand dollars on a new ventilation system, banned shaking hands, stopped handing out paper programs and encouraged online giving; anything to curb a virus has taken so much from his community — and his family. His mother died in his arms from the coronavirus.
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“It is not a natural death,” Whitlock said. “It is a painful death. It is a suffocating death. I am doing everything I can do encourage people to pray, but now we must do more than pray. We must get vaccinated and get our boosters.”
Reid Temple AME, with Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center, will host booster clinics on Dec. 9 and 16 — a plan in place long before omicron. “God works in mysterious ways,” Whitlock said.