WORTHINGTON — For much of the pandemic, the hilltowns were spared from having large numbers of diagnosed COVID-19 cases. Now, as the omicron variant spreads across the country, the situation has changed.
“It has had a real impact in terms of both our patients and our staff,” said Eliza Lake, executive director of the Hilltown Community Health Centers.
Based in Worthington, most of the centers’ patients are based in the hilltowns although the organization also has a site in Amherst.
“We were just more lucky with the other variants,” said Michael Purdy, chief clinical and community service officer for Hilltown Community Health Centers.
Purdy said that at the pandemic’s last peak, the Hilltown Community Health Centers had four new positive COVID-19 cases a week. Last week, 18 new cases were recorded.
Purdy noted, however, this doesn’t even take into account the full scope of positive cases, as the cases this number reflects are only for the tests the organization sends out. People who get tested at other sites and those who test for COVID-19 using at-home rapid tests aren’t included in this number.
Donna Gibson, chairwoman of the Williamsburg Board of Health, said that Williamsburg has recorded 23 news cases since Jan. 4, when 17 new cases were reported to the town.
“I think people are more lax,” she said.
However, she said it’s still important for people to get vaccinated, boosted, use masks and social distance.
Michael Kurland serves as the COVID Coordinator for Goshen and as special advisor to the town’s board of health. He also serves on the board of the Foothills Health District.
Kurland said that the latest numbers he’s seen for Goshen were three new cases, although he said that these numbers don’t mean much because many Goshen people have Williamsburg zip codes and at-home rapid tests are not counted amongst them.
He did say, however, that the latest COVID wave is hitting the hilltowns harder than any other, noting the increase in cases in the Foothills Health District – which consists of Westhampton, Whately, Goshen and Williamsburg – as well as the anecdotal increase in the number of people who say they’ve caught COVID-19.
“Essentially this has become endemic,” Kurland said. “So many people are getting sick.”
Kurland said that it’s important to continue to get vaccinated and boosted and take COVID-19 precautions, and he said that the goal is for less people to get COVID-19 now.
Amy Choquette lives in Chester and receives health care through Hilltown Community Health Centers, where she got a booster on Thursday. She revealed that one of her unvaccinated seasonal neighbors, who lives in Webster most of the year, recently died after contracting COVID-19.
“I wish that everybody would get vaccinated,” she said.
Choquette also said that she works in a restaurant, and that she missed a week of work after a server she works with contracted COVID-19 from her unvaccinated boyfriend.
The recent COVID-19 wave has also had an effect on Hilltown Community Health Centers’ staffing, as about 10 percent of the staff each week are being monitored related to COVID-19.
Protocols vary based on such factors as whether someone has tested positive for COVID-19 or had a contact but has not tested positive. Purdy said that this 10% number has stayed consistent since New Year’s, and that around 30% of those monitored end up testing positive for the disease.
Lake also noted a number of staff can’t come onsite because they’re being monitored.
“Those staffing challenges are on top of the staffing challenges even before COVID hit,” Lake said, pointing to a nationwide shortage of medical and dental staff across the country.
Both Lake and Purdy did have some good news to share — there has been no known onsite transmission of COVID-19 at Hilltown Community Health Centers. They also pointed to the positive effects of vaccination.
“Being vaccinated is the most effective way of reducing hospitalizations and deaths, without question,” said Lake.
Purdy said the Hilltown Community Health Centers has the capacity to meet the increased demand from the wave, but that they have had to expand the COVID team.
“We’ve had to change our model of care to deal with the demand,” he said.
He also said with the holiday season over he doesn’t see the current case numbers being sustained.
Lake, meanwhile, noted the organization is doing more telehealth because of the pandemic. However, she said services have not been cut back.
“We are continuing to provide safe care for our patients,” she said.
Hilltown Community Health Centers continues to offer weekly vaccination clinics in Huntington on 73 Russell Road every Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
All three COVID-19 vaccines are available, as are boosters. First and second doses of vaccine are available for those 5 and up, while boosters are available for those 12 and up. To make an appointment, call 413-667-3009 ext. 26
“Our clinics have been getting fully booked,” Lake said. “Primarily with boosters.”
The organization is also a part of a federal program for receiving COVID-19 tests.
“This is a program for community health centers nationally,” Lake said.
Hilltown Community Health Centers received its first shipment this week, which consisted of approximately 6,700 rapid at-home antigen tests.
The federal government is encouraging health centers to distribute these tests beyond their staff and patients and Hilltown Community Health Centers is working with its community partners to do so, as well as schools. PeoplesBank is also providing financial support for the effort.
Lake said that Hilltown Community Health Centers expects to receive another shipment either this week, or next week, and plans to continue to order more tests weekly. She also said that while the organization is relying on its community partners to distribute the tests currently, it plans to distribute them on Feb. 26 at its Worthington and Huntington sites in conjunction with children returning to school.
Lake said that she sympathized with people getting tired of COVID-19 precautions, but that omicron shows that they can’t afford to let their guard down. Purdy, meanwhile, also noted the importance of people continuing to vaccinate, boost, mask and social distance to alleviate the pressure the medical system is under.
In the future, Purdy said he thinks yearly boosters and antivirals should be able to keep COVID-19 under control. However, he did say that the disease will not be eliminated.
“COVID is here to stay long term,” he said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gaettenet.com.