As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increase in the United States, the Northeast is being hit harder than other parts of the country.
States like Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island have some of the highest weekly rates of cases per 100,000 in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Additionally, while seniors in the U.S. are hospitalized at a rate three times that of other age groups, it is five times higher in the Northeast, CDC data shows.
Public health experts said the reason for the increase is multifactorial and includes the spread of more contagious variants, a higher proportion of elderly people and not many Americans taking the updated bivalent booster.
Spread of XBB.1.5
Not much is known about XBB.1.5. What we do know is that it is an offshoot of the subvariable omicron, which caused a wave of infections during the 2021-2022 winter season.
Early research suggests it may be better at evading immune responses, and recently the World Health Organization said it was the most contagious variant of COVID to date.
“I think the main thing right now that's driving the higher rates, maybe, in the Northeast is the higher ratio of XBB.1.5,” Dr. Shira Doron, chief of infection control for Tufts Medicine Health System, told ABC News. “That's the number one detectable difference between the Northeast and the rest of the country.”
CDC data shows that in US Department of Health and Human Services Region 1 — including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont — XBB.1.5 is estimated to account for 71.6% of new COVID infections .
In Region 2 — consisting of New York, New Jersey and the U.S. territories in the Caribbean — it's estimated to be 72.7 percent.
In comparison, XBB.1.5 accounts for an estimated 7.3% of new cases in the Midwest and about 6% of new cases in the Great Plains region.
Low aid rates
As of January 5, 2022, six of the 10 states with the highest percentage of residents who have received an updated dose of the bivalent booster live in the Northeast, according to the CDC data.
Vermont leads the way with 31.3 percent, followed by Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, respectively.
The shot was developed to specifically target the BA.4 and BA.5 variants. It is currently unclear how well the booster protects against XBB.1.5.
“This XBB.1.5, is a micron offshoot, so we hope there is some cross-reactivity in our antibodies and the immune responses in those who received the bivalent BA.4/BA.5 booster,” said Dr. Scott Roberts, assistant professor and associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine, told ABC News. “It probably won't be as good as BA.4/BA.5, but it's definitely the next best thing.”
Although the rates are higher in the Northeast than elsewhere in the country, they are still lower than experts would like to see, and having less than half the population vaccinated is so helpful.
“My suspicion is that the contagiousness of XBB.1.5 probably far exceeds the proportion of people who have received the booster,” Roberts said. “Although we are a higher vaccination area than many other areas of the country, it is still a minority of people in our area who have received the bivalent booster.”
Greater proportion of older adults
Another reason for the increase in cases and hospitalizations could be that the The Northeast has a higher percentage of seniors who are more susceptible to infection, serious illness and death from COVID-19, experts suggest.
Although the majority of seniors age 65 and older are 94.1% fully vaccinated, only 38.1% have received an up-to-date bivalent booster, according to CDC data.
Age is a known risk factor, and the immune system declines as a person ages, making them more vulnerable to infection.
“What I think is fascinating is if you look at the top 15 states in each of the 50 states, five of them are in New England,” Dr. Leonard Mermel, an infectious disease specialist at Rhode Island Hospital, told ABC News. “Five of the top 15 states with the largest percentage of population age 65 and older are in New England: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut.”
“And so, for older people, you're taking away their immune system function, and not enough Americans are getting a boost, and that's problematic,” he added.
