Don’t kid yourselves, folks, covid-19 is still out there. Still dangerous, still risky. It’s risky for everyone — old, young, vaccinated, or unvaccinated — and especially risky for the unvaccinated. While vaccination greatly reduces risk, it doesn’t completely eliminate it.

As the virus has spread and mutated, and as doctors and nurses have gained experience treating it, it’s become clear that our early ideas about who would contract serious cases of covid were not accurate. It’s not just the old and those with underlying conditions who develop severe covid. They are indeed the hardest hit by this disease, but increasingly large numbers of otherwise healthy adults and children are coming down with serious cases.

Healthy adults get serious cases, and some die, as do some children. Covid, in some form, will likely be with us for the foreseeable future and possibly become endemic, along with the annual flu and the common cold. It is hoped that this would be a milder version, but until then, we need to adjust to this new reality and act accordingly.

Vaccination

The vital importance of vaccination was highlighted by a recent CDC report showing that last fall, during October and November, there was an average of 85 covid deaths per one million population per week. Of those deaths, the vast majority, 92%, were not vaccinated, while 7% were vaccinated, and only 1% were vaccinated and boosted with an additional dose. So why is there still hesitancy in getting vaccines, especially for children?

It seems that people mistakenly interpreted the early and fairly accurate observation that “children are much less likely than adults to get covid” to mean “kids don’t get covid.” And too many have taken the observation that “if kids do get covid, it tends to be much milder than covid in adults” to mean “it’s nothing to worry about in kids, just a little sniffle.”

These misunderstandings are a part of the reason why vaccination has been slower than expected among the 5- to 11-year-olds eligible for vaccination since late October 2021. This low vaccination rate (only about 19% fully vaccinated nationally) has resulted in rapidly rising hospitalization rates among children. Nationally during December, 672 children were hospitalized every day on the average, most of them unvaccinated. 

Yes, kids get covid, too. And while cases in kids tend to be milder, that’s not always true. Kids can get serious cases, sometimes with long-lasting effects. And some kids have died. With the omicron variant, more kids are getting sick. In December in New York state, hospitalization rates of covid quadrupled for children. In Indiana, Riley Hospital for Children reported in early January that they were admitting four times more children during the omicron surge than in any previous covid wave. Over half these children needed time in intensive care units and 40% needed ventilators. Almost all the admissions — in every age group — were unvaccinated.

Nationwide as of Jan. 28, 76% of the U.S. population has had at least one dose and 64% are fully vaccinated. (Note: First dose data may be inflated as the CDC reported at the end of November 2021 that some booster doses may have been accidentally counted as first doses.)

Maryland’s vaccination rates are higher than the national average; 84% of Marylanders have had at least one dose and 72% are fully vaccinated. But county-by-county rates vary considerably, and all the counties on the Eastern Shore are below the Maryland average. Somerset County has the lowest vaccination rate at 49% on the Eastern Shore and is tied with Garrett County on the western side of the bay for the lowest in the state. Talbot has the highest rate on the Shore at 71% with Worcester second highest at 69% and Kent third at 66%.

At 41%, Maryland has considerably higher rates of vaccinated children in the 5-11 age group than the national average of 29%; again, that rate varies by county. 

All nine Eastern Shore counties have high rates of new covid cases, among the highest in the state. This is partly because of the typical pandemic pattern of large, crowded urban areas being hit first and rural, lower population areas tending to surge later. However, the Eastern Shore’s higher rates reflect its lower vaccination rates. 

Dorchester County, at 151 per 100,000 population, has the highest rate of new cases in the state. This compares to the Maryland average new-case rate of 58 per 100,000 population. Four other Shore counties have rates over 100: Somerset (127), Wicomico (121), Caroline (117), and Talbot (105).

Fortunately, the new case rates have been declining across Maryland. However, hospitalization rates are still rising in six of the nine Eastern Shore counties.

There are charts at the end of this article by county for both confirmed cases of covid and vaccination rates.