Elderly remain at risk for fatal COVID without booster

Guam’s COVID-19 cases are continuing in a downward trend—despite a minor uptick in cases in the last week, most prevalently in the island’s manåmko population, according to Dr. Ann Pobutsky, Guam’s territorial epidemiologist. 

“We just saw an uptick in the elderly—this is in the 60-70-year-old, 75 plus, and of course, the usual culprits, the working-age population," she said.  

Public Health interim Chief medical officer, Dr. Bob Leon Guerrero said a significant portion of them aren’t getting vaccinated at all.

“The difference is that in the beginning, people were worried that they would catch COVID—especially the elderly and die from it—well, we still could catch COVID and we could still die from it," he said.  

The harsh reality is why doctors are hammering home that those eligible for the bivalent booster should get it, as viruses evolve over time.

“The elderly really need to get the bivalent booster—it's the best shot available if you don’t want to die from COVID," Pobutsky said.  

Meanwhile, updates on omicron subvariants xbb 1.5, bq, and a sublineage of ba.5—were comprising three runs of genome sequencing, though Pobutsky says it doesn’t look to pose a threat to severe illness or an uptick in cases. 

Still, health officials will continue to monitor what’s out there. 

In that same breath, experts are pushing vaccination efforts—holding a vaccine clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday at the Chalan Pago Mayor’s Office.