CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – While the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has not yet made its way to Montgomery County, active cases of the virus are rising again.
As of Sunday, there were 536 local active cases according to the Clarksville-Montgomery County COVID-19 Dashboard Hub. The area hasn’t surpassed 500 active cases since mid-October.
‘High’ community transmission
The Clarksville area has averaged 24.2 new cases per day for the last 14-day period, which is over double the rate from the previous 14-day period, according to the Tennessee Department of Health county level data.
And Montgomery County has returned to “high” community transmission on the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker, meaning that the area’s virus transmission is equal to or greater than 100 per 100,000 individuals.
While the TDH does not provide a county-level breakdown on the percentages of cases attributed to one strain or another, the Mid-Cumberland Region, which encompasses Montgomery County, is still seeing a large number of Delta variant cases.
The Delta variant, and the wave of cases it created locally, peaked this year through the middle of September. Case rates still have not returned to the low numbers we saw in June and July. While the area is nowhere close to the case rates seen during the peak weeks of the Delta wave, cases are beginning to rise again.
While almost all of these new local cases are a result of the Delta variant, the Omicron variant has been labeled a “Variant of Concern” by the CDC, and has been found in all but four U.S. states including Tennessee.
“As of 8 this morning, the Tennessee Department of Health has reported the Omicron variant in Davidson and Shelby Counties,” Joey Smith, director of the Montgomery County Health Department, told Clarksville Now Monday.
Omicron likely spreads more easily than the original virus, but its transmissibility compared to Delta remains unknown, according to information from the CDC.
On what is creating the latest uptick, if not the new variant, Smith told Clarksville Now it could be because of the holiday season and the virus following a similar pattern that we see with annual flus and other illnesses.
“On the topic of the increase of cases, this could be related to holiday gatherings. We often see an increase of cold, flu, and other respiratory illnesses as we spend more time indoors,” Smith said.
Vaccinations & boosters
Vaccinations and booster shots are still one of the best lines of defense against COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, according to health experts.
Moderna’s makers claimed Monday that its first studies into their booster’s effectiveness against the Omicron variant increased protection by 37-fold, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
Earlier this month, Pfizer officials also said their booster dose of the vaccine proved effective against the Omicron variant in an initial laboratory study, but specified it produced a “25-fold” increase in antibodies when compared to just the two-dose regimen.
“There are a lot of things we can do to protect ourselves and others, such as washing our hands often, covering our sneeze and cough, staying at home when we’re sick, and it’s not too late to get a flu shot or your COVID-19 shot if you haven’t had a chance to get it,” Smith said.
Over 40% of those able to get the vaccine, which includes kids aged 5 and up, are still not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Montgomery County, according to data from the CDC, while 69.8% of the population over the age of 18 have received both doses of the vaccine.