It’s possible that California is headed for an earlier-than-normal start to the COVID-19 summer season, with concentrations of coronavirus in wastewater emerging in some spaces, as well as the rate of positive tests statewide.
The trend comes as the new circle of relatives of coronavirus subvariants, collectively referred to as FLiRT, has made significant strides across the country.
The FLiRT subvariants, officially known as KP. 2, KP. 3 and KP. 1. 1, have outperformed the dominant winter strain, JN. 1. During the two weeks ending on Saturday, they are estimated to account for a total of 50. 4% of coronavirus infections in the country, up from 20% the previous month.
Instead of California experiencing relief in COVID-19 circulation, as it did earlier this spring, state health officials said the spread is now robust or slowly increasing.
“COVID-19 concentrations in wastewater recommend an increase in several areas of California since early May. COVID-19 test positivity has been slowly expanding since May,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement to the Times on Friday.
In the seven days ending Monday, about 3. 8% of COVID-19 tests were positive; At the end of April, this percentage was 1. 9% (the maximum rate of positive tests last summer was 12. 8%, at the end of August).
Doctors at hospitals in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area are also seeing a slight increase in the spread of the coronavirus.
“We are seeing a slight increase. And that’s all because of the so-called FLiRT variants,” Dr. Kelly said. Elizabeth Hudson, Kaiser Permanente’s regional infectious disease leader in Southern California.
So far, the increase has been seen primarily in Kaiser’s outpatient visits.
“Every time there’s a new variant, unfortunately, new variants will have the ability to [overcome immunity from a past infection], and if it’s been a while since someone has been vaccinated, it’s clear that they won’t have the same effect. “coverage than someone who has been vaccinated more recently,” Hudson said.
In San Francisco, infectious disease doctors are noticing that more people are hospitalized suffering from pneumonia caused by COVID.
“I’ve noticed more than I expected in other people in poor health in the hospital” from COVID, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. The number was only a handful, “but it is perceptible. “
From his reading of the wastewater data, “we know it’s increasing, and it’s increasing earlier,” Chin-Hong said of coronavirus activity.
“Last year, I think it started to increase at the end of June, and this year it’s at the end of May. So it’s a little earlier, but we’re starting from a very low point,” Chin said. Hong said.
And, anecdotally, it appears that Bay Area citizens are talking more about COVID, Chin-Hong said. He remembers hearing about the elegance of the child suffering with a COVID case a few days ago.
“It’s not necessarily an alarming figure now, but we are . . . so early summer, that’s what we’re expecting,” Chin-Hong said.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has also seen a slight increase in cases in recent days.
From May 10 to 15, the maximum of recent data available, there was an average of 82 to 92 COVID-19 cases per day, an increase from early spring. There were an average of 60 to 80 new cases per day between March 25 and May 9, Los Angeles County fitness officials said in an article to the Times. The number of cases sometimes reflects testing at medical facilities and does not include at-home testing, nor does it account for infections among others who do not. Get tested.
“It is too early to say whether this slight increase of the last few days will become a sustainable increase. This number of cases is low, which makes it difficult at this time to assess the actual trends,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Affairs said. Health said.
Coronavirus levels in Los Angeles County’s wastewater remain stable, at 9% of last winter’s peak, but data on those effects show a significant lag, with the most recent data available covering the 10-day period ending May 11.
Elsewhere in the state, levels of virus in wastewater are rising, including Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous county and home to Silicon Valley. In recent weeks, coronavirus levels have reached the “high” threshold in the Palo Alto sewer basin.
With the summer travel season starting in earnest this Memorial Day weekend, doctors have suggested others update their vaccinations — that is, if they’re at higher risk for severe headaches from COVID-19.
In California, only 36% of people 65 and older have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which was first received in September. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionU. S. health agencies have recommended that anyone 6 months of age and older receive a dose of the updated vaccine. A second dose is also for people 65 and older, as long as at least four months have passed since their last shot.
It’s especially vital for older adults to get at least one updated dose. Of the patients he recently saw who had severe COVID, Chin-Hong said, all had not received an updated vaccine since September and were older or immunocompromised.
“We are still seeing people in the hospital, and according to CDC data submitted in February, more than 95% of hospitalized people had not received the updated vaccine for 2023-2024,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said. CDC data showed that receiving the updated vaccine provided 54% more coverage against COVID-19 disease compared to those who had not received the vaccine.
For older adults who are now up to date on COVID-19 vaccination, points to come with travel plans or if they have a task where they interact with many people, doctors say. We now have plenty of time to get this vaccine, as well as the new formulas that are expected in the fall.
“By getting your booster now, you’re going to protect yourself to get through this probably summer wave,” Hudson said.
Although for many other people, COVID no longer means a hospital visit, “for other people, it’s a big deal,” Chin-Hong said. “And those are the other people I saw in the hospital; They were very “They are in very bad health and stayed there for a while. “
Nationally, since the beginning of October, more than 43,000 people have died from COVID, according to the CDC, adding more than 3,400 in California. Conversely, influenza most likely led to fewer deaths nationally — about 25,000 during the same period.
The risk of death among hospitalized people is higher for people with COVID than for those with the flu, especially in the elderly, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“When you’re in the hospital, a lot of other things can happen. . . You can get nosocomial infections, so you should avoid hospitalization,” Chin-Hong said.
California recently reached a COVID milestone: 0 deaths in a single calendar day, on April 2, a feat accomplished since the early days of the pandemic. Los Angeles County also saw a new record for deaths: an average of 0. 14 deaths per day over a consistent weekly period, recorded for the consistent seven-day period ending April 2.
“It’s actually a triumph of science that we’ve gotten to a point where we’re getting to a day where there will be no COVID deaths,” Hudson said, attributing credit to points such as vaccine progression and antiretroviral measures. -Covid medicines, as well as improvement of anti-Covid drugs. Techniques used to treat patients.
Still, “COVID is rarely just a cold or flu,” Hudson said. “COVID can potentially have very long-term effects on some people . . . Long COVID makes things different. “
Evidence is developing that the more you get COVID, the greater the likelihood that long COVID will develop, Hudson said. And “it turns out that other people in their 30s and 40s are the ones who are more likely to get long COVID. “”.
Some patients have been permanently disabled due to long COVID, but, Hudson said, “for most people, it turns out, maybe after 12 months, 18 months, that all the symptoms go away. But it’s been a long time since I didn’t feel well.
There has been much debate about how the long-term prevalence of COVID is lower than at the beginning of the pandemic, but even now, whenever a user contracts COVID, there is a chance that long COVID will develop.
Some patients “have trouble breathing,” Hudson said. Others would possibly expand something called POTS, which stands for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and can cause sudden spikes in heart rate and dizziness.
“Long COVID can be the autonomic nerve formula in tactics that we still don’t perceive one hundred percent,” Hudson said. “But we know that other people end up suffering from this specific syndrome and that it can replace their lives. “
In addition to staying up to date on vaccinations, doctors have given the following tips to prepare for an expected surge in COVID circulation:
• Avoid others who are in poor health. Some people with health problems may pass off their symptoms as a “cold,” when they may also simply be the beginning of a COVID-19 illness.
• Test if you are in poor health and monitor daily. It may take longer after the onset of the illness for an immediate COVID-19 test to be positive. Consider getting an immediate COVID test once a day for 3 to five consecutive days after coughing and bloodless symptoms appear, Hudson said. This can help the user with health problems take steps to isolate later and limit the spread of the disease to others.
• Plan to ask for Paxlovid if you get sick. Paxlovid is an antiviral medication that, when taken through others at risk for severe COVID-19 and with mild to moderate disease, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death.
• Masks are much less common these days, but they can still be a convenient tool to avoid infection. Wearing a mask on a crowded flight where other people are coughing nearby can decrease the risk of infection.
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