The summer has led to an increase in coronavirus transmission, but experts say it’s still too early to say whether the recovery represents a significant public health problem.
USA. The U. S. saw a 10% increase in new COVID-19 hospital admissions during the week ending July 15 in the last seven-day period. However, hospitalizations remain near a record for the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are expanding in the Southern states, Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. California, so far, has fared better.
“There’s no question about our nadirs, or the stability that was had, that there’s a slight increase in check positivity,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, told The Times in an interview.
“And the question is going to be, how bad is other people’s health, now that we have some degree of immunity?” he said.
The extent of accumulation in transmission is difficult to quantify. The official case count is now largely unreliable due to the proliferation of at-home testing and reduced knowledge reports.
But the measures imply an increase.
Coronavirus levels in Los Angeles County wastewater tend to rise. And the statewide test positivity rate reached 7. 6% in the week ending Monday, up from 4. 1% the previous month. The number of coronavirus testing effects reported to the California Department of Public Health has also doubled in the past month, a conceivable sign that more people have health problems, or at least worry they may have been exposed to the virus.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in California, while still near record levels, are no longer declining. As of last Saturday, there were 834 coronavirus-positive patients in California hospitals, less than the lows reported in the spring of 2021 and 2022, however, a cumulative since July 1, when there were 747 hospitalized patients positive for the coronavirus.
Deaths have not yet piled up in California, but they are a lagging indicator: It takes weeks for an accumulation in transmission to cause a corresponding accumulation of deaths.
Experts and officials say it’s no surprise that a summer surge of the coronavirus has arrived, given seasonal trends in recent years.
Travel has also returned from pandemic-era lows. The Transportation Security Administration recently said that, nationwide, June 30 was the busiest day in the history of the agency’s operations, surpassing the previous record set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2019.
And as holidays and gatherings return, with most people wasting masks, the chances of infection have increased.
Time also plays a role. Most other people are far from receiving their latest COVID-19 booster shot, and since the most recent buildup of the coronavirus occurred last winter, chances are it has been months since many were exposed to a significant influx of the virus.
“This comes at a time when people’s herd immunity is declining,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco. “So it’s like the force box is weaker, so to speak. “
USA. The U. S. government reported 7109 hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the week ending July 15, the most recent on record. That surpasses the pandemic’s all-time low of 6294, which was set in the week ending June 24.
The national peak of hospitals occurred the week ending January 15, 2022, at the height of Omicron’s first surge. In those seven days alone, there were 150,674 hospital admissions for COVID-19.
In Los Angeles County, public fitness officials noted slight increases in transmission, but said hospitalizations and deaths so far remain relatively stable, “likely reflecting improved coverage as opposed to severe COVID-19 illness. “
Coronavirus levels in the county’s water are at 16 percent of last winter’s peak, according to the most recent data released Thursday. That figure is 8 percent two weeks ago.
In 2022, COVID was the third leading cause of death in Los Angeles County, central disease and Alzheimer’s disease. But “based on the number of deaths to date,” the county Department of Public Health said in a statement, “we expect significant change. “minimize in the COVID-19 classification this year. “
“Examining the existing patterns we see between cases, hospitalizations and deaths provides evidence that improved immunity, through vaccination and past infections, most likely leads to greater resilience to serious disease,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. As vaccines and remedies continue to be effective in opposition to circulating strains of COVID-19, we can rest assured that COVID is now all we can handle. “
The fact that deaths don’t have to rise nationally can be explained simply by the classic lag or, more optimistically, by declining death rates, Chin-Hong said. That could end up being the case, he said, while COVID-19 patients can still seek care in the emergency room, fewer will have to be admitted to the hospital and far fewer will die.
However, it remains conceivable that COVID-19 will be a greater challenge in winter, Chin-Hong said.
Officials say other people deserve to take cautious steps to avoid infections, such as avoiding others with health problems and getting tested if you have COVID symptoms. Keep a mask convenient so you can wear it if it is mandatory, for example, if you are unlucky. Enough to sit on a plane next to other people coughing aerosol droplets on your face would also be a good idea.
Increased viral transmission will increase the risk of others being exposed to contagious people. Chin-Hong said she has heard of others who have never had COVID-19 before and are now contracting it.
“If there are more people transmitting things, and especially if few people are testing, then other people who haven’t received it yet will continue to do so,” he said. “A lot of other people will do well, but some of those other people, statistically speaking, won’t. “
In addition to the threat of serious illness, other people may continue to spread prolonged COVID, the umbrella term for a long list of symptoms that can last months or years after an infection.
Now that Paxlovid, an oral COVID medication that can be taken after infection, has been fully approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. In the U. S. , high-risk Americans can contact their health care providers to receive Paxlovid before, say, a stranger. if they think it will be difficult to get the medicine later. This would allow other people to take the pills temporarily if they test positive for the coronavirus, Chin-Hong said.
It can be helpful to have the verbal exchange of Paxlovid before you’re in poor physical condition with COVID-19, Chin-Hong said. This way, patients can talk to their regular physical care providers about the option of interactions with other medications they are taking.
The FDA says Paxlovid specifically reduces the percentage of other people hospitalized or dead from COVID, regardless of the cause.
People who have COVID symptoms or test positive for the virus self-isolate for at least five days after symptoms begin or after their first positive checkup, whichever comes first, according to fitness officials.
State law still requires most insurance plans in California to reimburse policyholders for the charge of 8 home COVID tests consistent with the month for the covered user.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, COVID patients can be discharged from isolation at the end of the fifth day after the onset of symptoms or their first positive test result, as long as their symptoms are mild and they do not have a fever. However, the agency recommends that others wait until their check is negative if they leave isolation before the end of the 10 days.
County fitness officials also recommend ending up wearing a mask around other people for 10 days after symptoms appear or test positive. 19 verification effects in a row, taken at least one day apart.
Isolation and masking on can end regularly after day 10, without requiring a negative control result. But other people who still have a fever remain remote for at least a day after the fever ends. People who are immunocompromised or have severe COVID-19 tell a doctor about when they would possibly be around others.
Californians who are uninsured or struggling to get a prescription for COVID medications can schedule a free appointment by phone or video through the state’s COVID-19 telehealth service, available at sesamecare. com/covidca or by calling (833) 686-5051.
L. A. County offers similar loose telefitness services, available at (833) 540-0473. Free home COVID tests can also be picked up at county libraries and vaccination sites through the county’s public fitness department, as well as at many food banks. and senior centers.
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Rong-Gong Lin II is a San Francisco-based Metro reporter who specializes in covering statewide earthquake protection issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bay Area location graduated from UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles Times in 2004.
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