Vigo County had 408 new, reported cases of COVID over the last two weeks, according to the Vigo County Health Department.
From June 27 to July 3, there were 229 reported cases, and from July 4 to July 10, there were 179 cases, said Michael Passmore, the department’s health educator/media coordinator.
Union Hospital has indicated COVID cases are up slightly, with new omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, he said.
By comparison, COVID cases reached a high of 1,754 the week of Jan. 16 and fell to 295 the week of Feb. 6-12.
The CDC data tracker indicates that Vigo and most surrounding counties are in the “medium” risk level for COVID spread, although Greene County is at a high risk level.
According to Passmore, “There is nothing that is extreme to the level it had been before — just slight rises.” Current numbers should not be grounds for concern “as long as individuals stay on top of their health and stay on top of CDC guidelines” for vaccinations and isolation/quarantine in the event of positive test results.
Dr. Jim Turner, who chairs the Vigo County Board of Health, said that those testing positive now “are not nearly as ill as they were 1.5 years ago.” They still don’t feel well, with symptoms including headache, muscle aches, sore throat, low grade fevers and sinus infections.
“We’re not seeing almost anyone with respiratory infections we saw 1.5 years ago,” said Turner, also a staff physician with Convenient Care. The latest subvariant may be a little more contagious, but patients aren’t having the pulmonary (lung) issues, “and that’s what put people in the hospitals” in the past.
Also earlier in the pandemic, COVID patients often developed blood clots that caused other serious health problems, something “we’re just not seeing right now,” Turner said.
He’s seeing some people test positive who are vaccinated, and not boosted, “but they are not going to the hospital with it.” There may be some confusion about vaccinations, he said. Vaccinations work to “keep you alive and keep you out of the hospital. They don’t always prevent an illness, but I think they make the illness much easier,” Turner said. “Our numbers have shown that.”
According to the New York Times, hospitalizations have increased steadily in recent weeks. On average, there are more than 33,000 people in American hospitals with coronavirus on a given day — the highest national average since early March.
There are fewer than 400 deaths currently reported each day nationwide, down from more than 2,600 a day at the height of the omicron surge, the Times reported.
“The numbers are still there,” Turner said, and the need for vigilance remains.
He’s seen a “fair number” of people who become sick after being on vacation. “Travel is a risk factor,” he said. He continues to recommend vaccination and boosters and to follow CDC guidelines for masking and when testing positive. Experts indicate the use of home tests is likely causing under-reporting of actual COVID cases nationwide.
For those who home test, Passmore says they should go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for guidelines if they are positive.
The CDC has a quarantine/ isolation calendar and other information at the following: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html.
Passmore also says people should make sure their home tests have not expired. If the home tests expire, “It can affect the accuracy of the test results.”
COVID has not gone away, and people should follow CDC guidelines and keep others in mind if they test positive, Passmore said. If they follow those guidelines, “We should all as a community be able to handle any issues currently and beyond that we’re still having with this situation.”
According to NPR, the CDC has indicated BA.5 variant is now the most dominant strain of COVID19 in the country. “And while it’s hard to get an exact count — given how many people are taking rapid tests at home — there are indications that both reinfections and hospitalizations are increasing,” according to the July 11 NPR report.
The NPR article also states, that so far, “There is no evidence that this variant causes more serious illness. And infectious disease experts say that even though new infections are on the rise, the impact of BA.5 is unlikely to be on the scale of the surge we saw last winter — in part because the country is better equipped to manage it.”
The CDC COVID tracker indicates that 54,977 Vigo County residents are fully vaccinated, or 54.4% of those 5 or older.
It also indicates that 47.2% of those who are fully vaccinated in Vigo County have had a first booster dose.
For those who get COVID, the antiviral Paxlovid is available, Turner said. The antiviral works to shorten the course of the virus and help prevent hospitalization. “We’ve had good success with it,” he said.
Paxlovid is provided by the U.S. government at no cost to patients.