When the federal COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ended on May 11, the nation shared a sigh of relief.
It seemed to indicate the worst of the pandemic was in the rear-view mirror, that its world-changing impact was easing.
And in many ways, that was true. Case counts were down, mask mandates had been lifted, people had returned to work and to restaurants, schools and public gatherings.
But just because things have gotten better doesn’t mean COVID is gone. And over the past few weeks, it has had a bit of a resurgence.
Case counts have begun to rise again, fueled by a new variant. Fortunately, health officials say symptoms from the latest strain have tended to be mild.
“I think that we’re in a much better place than we were a few years ago,” said Dr. Debra Powell, chief of the division of infectious disease at Reading Hospital. “But people have to remember that it’s still here.”
Cases increasing
Tracking COVID cases isn’t as easy as it once was.
With the ending of the public health emergency declaration, health providers and other agencies were no longer mandated to report positive tests. That led the state Department of Health to shut down its COVID dashboard, which had been reporting county-level data on cases, deaths, hospitalizations and other information.
The state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shifted away from tracking cases, now focused mainly on hospitalizations and deaths.
So, figuring out just how prevalent COVID is in Berks County is a bit tricky.
To get a sense of the situation, the Reading Eagle reached out to officials from Reading Hospital and Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center. Both said they have seen an increase in cases over the last month.
“We are seeing an uptick in cases,” Powell said.
At St. Joseph, the number of patients receiving treatment for COVID has risen from the low teens at the start of August to the mid-30s at the end of the month, according to Dr. Kimberly Wolf, vice president of medical affairs.
“We are seeing more positive tests in our labs,” Wolf said last week. “We have a 21% positivity rate right now. Of course, we’re not doing as much screening; the people getting tested are symptomatic.”
A mild strain
Powell and Wolf said that despite seeing increases in cases recently, their hospitals face no threat of being overwhelmed by COVID cases as they where early in the pandemic.
That’s because the variants of the disease circulating mostly cause only mild symptoms.
“The good news is that every one of these variants that have developed are more infectious but not as harmful,” Powell said.
Powell said most patients who are getting COVID now experience a headache, sore throat and cough for about three to five days.
“A lot of people just think they have a cold,” she said.
Wolf added that the loss of smell and taste that was a hallmark of early versions of COVID seems to have gone away. And she agreed that most patients aren’t experiencing any sort of severe symptoms.
The result is that hospitalizations for COVID remain low.
“Right now we have no more than five hospitalized, and none of the patients are critically ill,” Wolf said last week.
Likewise, Powell reported low hospitalizations at Reading Hospital. As of last week, she said, the hospital had only seven COVID patients admitted, with just one in intensive care.
According to the CDC’s COVID dashboard, data reported on Aug. 19 showed just 15 new COVID patient admissions in the county over the previous week.
Those who are still getting severely ill tend to be people with existing medical conditions that make them more prone to bad outcomes from COVID, Wolf said. Those conditions include things such as diabetes, heart issues and respiratory illnesses.
Powell and Wolf said there are a few reasons the impact of COVID is lessening.
One is that a lot of people have gained some level of immunity from vaccines or contracting the disease. That helps the body fight the disease and lessens the severity of symptoms.
Another is that the disease itself has changed as it has mutated from one variant to another.
“What has happened over time is it has gotten more infectious, it reproduces faster, but the cases have been milder,” Powell said. “It’s similar to a parasite — they don’t want to kill the host, they want to keep you around and then move onto other people.”
Moving forward
Despite signs that COVID is becoming less dangerous with each mutation, health officials still say people should still pay attention to it.
There are segments of the population who are at high risk of becoming severely ill if they get COVID. The more cases that exist the more likely those people are to contract and suffer from the disease.
“We still have a population that’s really vulnerable,” Powell said. “And that includes older folks.”
Powell suggested that people who do experience symptoms get tested, and if they’re positive for COVID that they stay away from others for about five days.
And Powell and Wolf urged people to get vaccinated, particularly those most at risk. That includes a new COVID booster that is expected to be unveiled within the next month.
Powell said those over the age of 65 should get the new vaccine, as well as anyone with comorbidities. So, too, should people who are in frequent contact with a large number of people, like teachers or those in the health care industry.
“If you have a lot of people exposure you should be getting the vaccine,” she said.
Source: Berkshire mont
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