America’s Essential Hospitals has recognized the University of Texas Medical Branch for its work to craft and continuously maintain a compendium of expert interpretive commentary regarding SARS-CoV-2 testing and a novel supporting technology that applies these comments and delivers them to physicians and patients.

Unvaccinated individuals who were previously infected with COVID may not have as much natural immunity against the virus, especially when it comes to the new omicron variant. “I've never seen anything like this,” UTMB biochemistry professor Dr. Pei-Yong Shi said. Shi shared data from his research, showing how the level of natural immunity of unvaccinated individuals is nowhere near what it was in the past. In fact, it's about 16-fold lower than previous variants a month after the infection. The number drops even further if the infection was six months ago. Other ABC outlets also ran this story.

Amid the large increase in COVID-19 cases across the country, driven by the omicron variant, there also has been an increase in the demand for at-home tests. Between Dec. 16 and Wednesday, the number of active cases in the county rose by 692 people, the highest weekly increase since August. “If you’re symptomatic and your home test is negative, you better go get another test,” said Dr. Janak Patel, the director of Infection Control & Healthcare Epidemiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. “Symptomatic people can do the initial home test and it’s positive, that’s fine. If it’s negative, get a proper test done.”

The rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 at University of Texas Medical Branch facilities tripled from about 5 percent of samples to 15 percent over the past week, an increase that has medical branch officials warning Galveston has joined the rest of the country in a variant-driven spike. Dr. Janak Patel, the director of Infection Control and Healthcare Epidemiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, called the jump in the positivity rate mind- boggling. “We tripled our positivity rate within a week,” Patel said. “Not even a week. Just in five days.”

Just this week, Omicron became the dominant COVID-19 variant in the U.S. It's now responsible for 73.2% of U.S. COVID-19 cases—a steep climb from the late November levels at 0.1%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “It’s already going very fast. Previously, almost 100% used to be Delta. That's why we need to closely monitor the increase of the Omicron in the population here,” Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, chair in innovations in molecular biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told Verywell.

A fresh surge of COVID-19 cases is appearing in Brazoria County as the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus sweeps across the country, though the number of severe cases requiring hospitalization has not risen sharply, area health officials said. “Although our inpatient census for COVID positive patients has slightly increased, we have seen a larger volume of positive cases through the outpatient setting as well as more patients seeking the antibody treatments we offer for COVID-positive patients,” said Beth Reimschissel, UTMB Health Angleton Danbury administrator and associate chief nursing officer.

New research from the University of Texas Medical Branch found that Filipino seafarers — who make up a third of the workforce that transports goods from around the world into the Port of Houston — often avoid or delay medical care when they get injured or sick for fear of workplace retaliation. “It’s the question of ‘how far can I go without seeking medical care through US hospitals and clinics?'” said Dr. Shannon Guillot Wright, the author of the paper documenting these experiences. “‘Can I call the second officer’s wife who is a nurse? Can I treat this burn myself? Are there antibiotics on board if my thumb gets cut off in machinery?’”

A panel of experts on the Houston Public Media program talked about ways to deal with depression during the holidays, signs and symptoms of depression, as well as what you can do to manage your mental wellness during this time of year. Dr. Jeff Temple, director of the Center for Violence Prevention at University of Texas Medical Branch, was one of the experts.