Lyra BordelonStaunton News Leader
AUGUSTA COUNTY– Since the start of the pandemic, over one million Americans have died due to COVID-19.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) public health emergency ended last May, but COVID has not left.
The University of Virginia held a press briefing in January with Dr. Costi Sifri, who outlined what the current protocols and data tell doctors about the virus.
“COVID hasn’t changed,” Sifri said. “Maybe we’ve changed or our attitude toward COVID has changed, but it remains a wickedly transmissible virus. It does not take much to go from one person to another.
The News Leader also spoke to Laura Lee Wight, public information officer for the Central Shenandoah Health District, to find out where the Shenandoah Valley stands in the fourth year of COVID.
Is the pandemic over?
When asked if COVID is still a pandemic, Sifri said, “That’s a complex question.”
Similar to the flu, COVID-19 resembles a seasonal virus. For the past several years, including 2023, there has been a winter spike in case numbers. The seasonal overlap between three different respiratory illnesses means that doctors should be testing for more than just illness when someone comes in with symptoms.
“I can’t tell you the number of patients I’ve met or talked with who are convinced they have one virus, get tested for one virus, then find out they have an infection due to a different virus,” Sifri said. “They think they have the flu, and it’s COVID, or they think they have RSV but it’s influenza.”
When people gather, there is a chance of an outbreak, such as an “August swell” of cases around the same time schools were starting the new year.
When a new variant emerges, the case load “seems” to go up. The current prominent strain of COVID is JN-1, an Omicron descendant, as of the end of January. This variant accounted for 86% of COVID cases tested across the United States. Previous COVID tests can still detect JN-1, so there’s no need to throw out the older tests in the medicine cabinet.
“There's no evidence that the current variants are really causing more severe disease compared to others,” Wight said.
Case data is not what it used to be
Data on the virus is harder to get now than it was in summer 2020. The CDC’s public health emergency allowed the agency to collect more public health data than normal, but the expiration means this expanded access is no longer available.
“We don’t have as much information, in terms of the genomic makeup of strains that are circulating in the United States and worldwide, anymore, in addition to just the raw case counts,” Sifri said. “We don’t have the sort of fidelity of information that we once had in tracking what’s happening with this virus.”
“So many people now do at home tests,” Wight further explained. “The case count numbers that we have really don't accurately show trends.”
Instead, the case counts are determined by hospitalization rates, emergency room, and urgent care visit counts. However, acute symptoms during the initial infection are no longer all doctors are worried about.
Long COVID can fatigue someone for months, even years
Research into Long COVID data has outlined an illness that can follow a person for much longer than a few weeks.
What is Long COVID? Wight told The News Leader, “We're talking about post-COVID conditions that can last for weeks, months, or even years for some individuals who've had COVID.”
About one in four adults with Long COVID report “significant activity limitations,” Wight said, citing the Center for Disease Control. Sifri called the symptoms "really impactful.” A prominent example is Senator Tim Kaine, who spoke with CBS about his symptoms and legislative efforts to get assistance to those with Long COVID in 2022.
Fatigue, fever, and headaches are common signs of Long COVID, but Wight explained, “It could be related to your lungs, your heart, your GI or gastrointestinal tract, or even your nervous system.” The symptoms can begin immediately after the initial COVID infection, or they could begin weeks afterwards.
A mechanism underlying Long COVID symptoms has not been found. Sifri limited his explanation, “We do know that Long COVID occurs and can occur after bouts of previous COVID infection.”
“There is still a lot of a lot that we don't know with Long COVID,” Wight said.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) created the RECOVER Initiative to study and test treatments against Long COVID. The program offers information about the illness, such as additional symptom descriptions and a guide to talking to a physician about a child's Long COVID symptoms, as well as recruiting for both observational studies and clinical trials.
COVID healthcare is newly commercialized
Day-to-day prevention now looks the same as it did during the pandemic. Sifri explained, “We did some social distancing, we were very cognizant of washing and cleaning our hands. Those are practices that still work. If you don’t want to get these respiratory viruses, those are things to consider.”
The caseload in late January led Sifri to return to the most visible old habit, “I’m masking now. If I’m in a location with 200 or 300 of my closest friends in a shopping mall or at the store, this is maybe not the worst time to don a mask. We know they work. The better the mask, the better the protection.”
This is not the only protection though. Each year, a new version of the COVID vaccine is released, calibrated to the most common variants of the virus than the previous vaccine. Wight emphasized to The News Leader, “The updated vaccine is considered to be the most important protection the most, best protection against really severe COVID-19 symptoms, potential hospitalization, and potential death.”
Vaccination rates have plummeted since the initial vaccine rollout in 2021. In Staunton, Augusta County, and Waynesboro, the initial vaccination rates ranged from 60% to 75%.
The rate has dropped to 8%, as of the end of January.
While Wight could not provide a definite way to explain the drop off, she did point to changes in the 2023/2024 vaccine rollout. The vaccine was “commercialized,” meaning treatments and supplies are no longer being purchased by the government but are handled by the traditional health care marketplace of doctors and insurance. Wight speculated this “could have impacted people's understanding of where they can gain access to the vaccine or how insurances are covering the vaccine.”
Those looking for a vaccine, even if they don’t have health insurance, are able to get one. Wight explained, “I will say that you can receive the COVID-19 vaccine if you're insured, or uninsured, at the at your local health department locations, as well as some pharmacies and some primary care providers.”
Vaccination sites can still be found at vaccines.gov.
When should someone go to the doctor?
“If you’re having high fevers that aren’t breaking or having breathing issues, unrelenting cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, other types of pain, confusion, all of those things would be important to know and I think to seek medical care right away,” Sifri said.
This also applies if someone’s skin, lips, or nail beds are turning blue, due to lack of oxygen, and sleeping disruptions, unable to stay asleep or wake up fully, Wight added.
Treatments are available for COVID and the earlier they can be administered, the better the outcomes.
The Home Test to Treat program from NIH offers “free virtual care and treatment for COVID-19 and flu,” Wight highlighted, saying, “That's a really great resource for individuals who might not have access to a healthcare provider readily.”
Another thing that hasn’t changed are the isolation recommendations. When someone catches COVID-19, they should isolate at home for five days, then wear a well-fitting mask around other people for five more days.
“If you do test positive for COVID, stay home, even if your symptoms are mild,” Wight said. “We want to make sure we're reducing the spread.”
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email tolbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to usatnewsleader.com.
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