Rapid spread of COVID-19 subvariant expected to continue

The JN.1 COVID-19 subvariant now accounts for more than 60% of COVID-19 infections in the Western United States, and the total is expected to rise in the coming weeks.

Statistics from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention show that 61% of the infections from Dec. 24 to Jan. 5 in California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada were caused by JN.1. The next-highest variants causing the infections were HV.1 at 14.9% and HK.3 at 4.8%.

“The JN.1 variant is either more transmissible or able to circumvent the immune system better than previous variants, which is why it is gaining hold faster than the others,” said Cheryl Johnson, CEO of Sonoma Valley Community Health Center.

Dr. Tanya Phares, the Sonoma County public health officer, added, “Viruses like the one that causes COVID-19 will change over time, which can help the virus become more transmissible and spread faster, becoming more predominant than other variants.”

Phares said that Sonoma County is currently unable to do in-house genotyping, but is planning to collect variant data soon.

In late December, the California Department of Public Health stated that JN.1 is the “variant with the highest proportion … and the fastest growing variant” in the state.

“But there is also no data to suggest that JN.1 causes more severe disease than other COVID-19 variants,” said Kylie Cooper, director of quality and risk management at Sonoma Valley Hospital.

It is also not known whether the JN.1 infection produces different symptoms from other variants, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough, fatigue, difficulty breathing, chest pain, nausea and sore throat.

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are expected to increase protection against JN.1, as they do with other viruses.

“There is data to suggest that the most recent COVID-19 booster is effective at protecting against severe COVID-19 infections with the JN.1 variant,” said Dr. Sujatha Sankaran, chief medical officer at Sonoma Valley Hospital. “Older COVID-19 vaccinations may not confer the same benefit against JN.1.

“This is why we are urging individuals to get the most recent COVID-19 booster in order to decrease the risk of severe COVID-19.”

Johnson said that less than 20% of Americans have received the updated vaccine.

“We have given so few of them that we will now only give them during the course of a normal office visit (and not at clinics),” she said.

Sankaran said that in general, COVID-19 boosters are more effective at preventing severe disease or death than they are at decreasing risk of contracting the virus.

The Sonoma County Department of Health Services reports that countywide, wastewater surveillance shows that in December, there has been an increased detection of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — and other microorganisms that are known to trigger the disease. Wastewater surveillance, along with hospitalizations, are the main metrics the county uses to determine the spread of COVID-19.

Johnson, Sankaran and Phares have stated that they expect COVID-19, RSV and influenza cases to increase in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District reported that it has spent $18.7 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief grants and one-time funding for assistance with COVID-19 issues.

“At the end of this year, all the money will have been spent with the exception of $1.7 million from learning recovery grants,” said Rena Seifts, the school district’s associate superintendent of business services, during her update on COVID funds at the board of trustees meeting on Dec. 14.

She said that the district has received more than $20 million in funding since 2022. More than $7.3 million has been spent on salaries of teachers and other certificated employees.

Sonoma Valley Unified School District also has spent approximately $3.6 million on services, $3.5 million on supplies, $3.1 million on employees’ benefits, $1.2 million on classified employees’ salaries and $73,500 on indirect costs.

The school district transferred approximately $2 million from the total funds to pay salaries of arts and music teachers as well as discretionary expenses.

“That was money used to balance the salary budget,” Seifts said. “We still have Prop. 28 funding for the arts, and that will be distributed (starting) this year.”

She said that the money that was used for the arts and music salaries was drawn from one-time funding that was not specifically designated for COVID.

“That money didn’t really have strings tied to it,” Seifts said. “It just had to have a plan that was approved and the plan we found addressed salaries in it.

“Hiring for new positions with COVID funds was discouraged because it was one-time funding, and it was going to go away. I had to move some positions that were being funded by COVID money to the learning loss recovery funds.”

The certificated positions included five intervention teachers and the equivalent of 6.6 full-time Beyond the Bell (after school) teachers, 3.6 English language arts intervention teachers, seven psychologists (split funded for COVID-19), one director, two teachers on special assignment and one independent study teacher, as well as one half-time person of extraordinary skill in the arts (POSA) teacher.

With the dwindling of COVID-19 funds, they now only fund the director and half-time POSA teacher, and partially fund the seven psychologists.

“The POSA position will go away this year,” Seifts said.

COVID-19 funding paid for seven different classified positions: four paraprofessionals, one community liaison, one bilingual paraprofessional, one custodian and the equivalent of 1.75 full-time health assistants, 1.5 COVID-19 administrative secretaries and .75 instructional assistants.

“Only the community liaison is now being funded by these funds,” Seifts said.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.