{"id":47574,"date":"2024-07-11T17:52:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T21:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=47574"},"modified":"2024-07-11T17:52:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T21:52:07","slug":"more-er-patients-in-florida-test-positive-for-covid-the-surge-is-different-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/07\/11\/more-er-patients-in-florida-test-positive-for-covid-the-surge-is-different-this-time\/","title":{"rendered":"More ER patients in Florida test positive for COVID. The surge is different this time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Michelle Marchante,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More ER patients are testing positive for COVID in Florida compared to other parts of the country as contagious variants fuel a summer wave of infections, federal data shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surge in cases is unlike in previous years when hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. It\u2019s a more modest wave, possibly boosted by people gathering during the summer, traveling, and staying indoors to avoid the sweltering heat.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The most common variants circulating in the country \u2014 KP.3, KP.2, and LB.1 \u2014 have mutations that make them more contagious. And recent ER data shows an increase in sick patients testing positive for COVID at Florida emergency rooms, with levels reaching peaks not seen since the winter, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Baptist Health, urgent care and ER doctors have seen an \u201cuptick in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany patients that test positive are being treated for symptom management and not admitted to the hospital. While numbers are not comparable to previous surges, we remind the community to practice appropriate safety precautions,\u201d Baptist Health told the Miami Herald in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that while there\u2019s an uptick in infections, it likely won\u2019t lead to a surge in hospitalizations, experts say. That\u2019s because the country has a good amount of herd immunity, either from vaccination, previous infections, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 95% of the U.S. population \u201ccurrently have identifiable antibodies to omicron, specifically omicron variants, so that\u2019s a very good herd immunity and it keeps us from having high levels of hospitalization,\u201d said Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University\u2019s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. But she said the immunity \u201cis only about 45% effective at preventing mild and moderate disease for these new strains because of those mutations that these new strains have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So people will get COVID, but many should be able to recover at home. Still, \u201ca week of sort of feeling lousy and not being able to function at your optimal can really spoil a vacation in the summer,\u201d Marty said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of July 5, the seven-day \u201cmoving average\u201d of emergency room patients diagnosed with COVID in Florida has risen to 3%, putting the state just behind Hawaii for the highest percent of ER patients testing positive for the disease, CDC data show. A moving average is a way to look at trends over time by averaging data across seven days. Hawaii leads the nation, with a seven-day moving average of slightly more than 4% for ER patients testing positive for COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDC no longer tracks cases and is relying on ER visits, hospitalizations and wastewater data to gauge the COVID situation. Nationwide data shows that while COVID infections remains low, the CDC says that COVID is increasing or likely increasing across 39 states and territories, including Florida. In contrast, levels remain low in the country for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a respiratory illness that causes cold-like symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like in the past, those most at risk for severe COVID infections are 65 and older, have a pre-existing health condition or are immunocompromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the CDC\u2019s quarantine guidelines for COVID?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CDC\u2019s COVID quarantine guidelines <\/a>have changed throughout the pandemic: If you test positive for COVID, here\u2019s the current guidance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you test positive for COVID, stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after symptoms get better overall and you no longer have fever (without the help of fever-reducing medication.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDepending on the length of symptoms, this period could be shorter, the same, or longer than the previous guidance for COVID-19,\u201d the CDC states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the \u201cstay home period\u201d is over, the CDC recommends taking additional precautions, such as wearing a mask and avoiding crowded areas for the next five days as you might still be contagious. Make sure to wash your hands frequently, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What COVID variants are circulating?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dominant COVID variants in the country are KP.3 and KP.2, though scientists are also closely watching LB.1, which is picking up steam. All three descend from omicron and are offshoots of JN.1, which fueled much of the country\u2019s winter infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These variants have \u201cparticular mutations that allow them to escape a lot of the immunity that the population has built up,\u201d Marty said. They\u2019re known as FLiRT variants based on the technical terms of their mutations, though LB.1 is also referred to as a \u201cdeFLiRT\u201d variant because of an additional mutation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three variants cause similar symptoms to previous COVID strains including coughing, fever and fatigue, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these variants are more contagious, they\u2019re not necessarily making people more sick than other strains because of how \u201cmuch immunity in the population\u201d there is from vaccines and previous infections, according to Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. His work is focused on emerging infectious disease, pandemic preparedness and biosecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other things to know about COVID variants:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25aa The most dominants variants in the country are KP.3 and KP.2, which are estimated to make up about 25% and 22% of the country\u2019s cases, respectively, according to the CDC\u2019s most recent estimates. LB.1 makes up about 10% of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25aa In the region that includes Florida and seven other states in the southeast, the variant rankings are flipped. KP.2 is slightly ahead of KP.3, and is estimated to make up nearly 35% of the cases, CDC data shows. KP.3 makes up nearly 31% of cases. Both JN.1 and LB.1 each make up nearly 6% of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Are COVID vaccines still effective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While COVID vaccines should still provide some protection against the virus, enough to reduce the risk of severe illness, studies show that the existing shots appear to be less effective <\/a>against the circulating variants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor high-risk individuals, the vaccine is still life-saving,\u201d said Adalja, the Johns Hopkins expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updated vaccines are expected to roll out in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, the FDA wants the new shots to better match JN.1 and its descendants, like KP.2 and KP.3. The goal is to update COVID vaccines annually, similar to flu shots, to boost protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen these vaccines first became available [in 2020], we were still in the midst of having seen just a tremendous amount of severe disease and deaths from COVID-19,\u201d said Marty, the FIU expert. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the antivirals like Paxlovid that we have now … people did not want to end up in the hospital and that drives people to get vaccines a lot more than, \u2018Oh, well, I might get a lousy cold.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the first sought-after COVID shots were rolled out, people\u2019s interest in receiving updated vaccines has steadily dropped, despite federal outreach efforts. People are still dying from COVID, but it\u2019s not like the first waves of the crisis. COVID is no longer a pandemic and is more endemic, which means the disease is circulating but is not out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the ancestral strain came out killing people, you couldn\u2019t call your doctor and ask for Paxlovid. It didn\u2019t exist,\u201d Adalja said. Doctors now know how to treat the disease. And people have some immunity against COVID, either through vaccination, a previous infection, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But because the virus that causes COVID is constantly mutating, people\u2019s immunity declines over time. Just like flu vaccines, COVID vaccines are meant to help bolster protection, experts say. But getting people to roll up their sleeves for a shot has been a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaccinations remain low nationwide with about 21% of adults and 14% of children estimated to have received the updated 2023-2024 vaccine, which was released last fall, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Florida, about 16% of adults and about 9% of kids have received the updated shot, as of the CDC\u2019s most recent update in May. In comparison, about 70% of adults in Florida had completed the primary two-dose COVID vaccine series, as the Miami Herald has previously reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no one reason why people have passed on the new vaccines \u2014 the politicization of the shots, concerns over side effects, misinformation, and a person\u2019s lack of concern over their COVID risk are some of the reasons some might avoid the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this new era of COVID, public health experts are encouraging people to consider their risk factors for severe illness. Some of those most at risk for severe disease include people who are pregnant, at least 65, immunocompromised or have a pre-existing health condition such as obesity, diabetes and kidney disease. Young kids who have never been vaccinated are also at risk, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason to get vaccinated is not, in this current era, is not to prevent yourself from getting infected,\u201d Adalja said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to prevent yourself from getting severe disease,\u201d he said, noting that even the currently available vaccine is \u201chighly effective at prevention of severe disease, hospitalization and death, which is what we want the vaccine to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michelle Marchante, More ER patients are testing positive for COVID in Florida compared to other parts of the country as contagious variants fuel a summer wave of infections, federal data… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":47576,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/COVID-Flu-at-Urgent-Care_760x500-jpg.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[9081],"class_list":["post-47574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-more-er-patients-in-florida-test-positive-for-covid-the-surge-is-different-this-time"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47577,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47574\/revisions\/47577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}