Health officials call for shots in the arm against respiratory ailments
COVID-19 is not the aggressive attacker it was almost five years ago, but it still sounds a bit menacing by Peggy Jacobsen's description.
"It's still out there, and for people with other health issues, it can definitely be a problem," said the Spotsylvania County resident and former teacher. "It's real."
She and her friend, former school nurse Mary Lou Nissim–Sabat, talk regularly about the need for annual vaccines, especially among the older set. Nissim–Sabat also is hearing about a lot of "COVID repeats," including a young relative who's had it three times. She also knows a recently retired teacher who managed to avoid the virus while working, then got it for the first time at a family reunion this summer.
"It's a gift that no one wants that just keeps giving," she said.
During the final quarter of the year, as temperatures chill and leaves fall, health officials are once again calling for people to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated against the various respiratory illnesses out there.
The annual call used to focus primarily on the flu shot but has been expanded to include a COVID booster, especially for those 65 and older and anyone with underlying conditions. There are also numerous advertisements and public service announcements about respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Once found primarily in infants and young children, RSV is highly contagious and can cause severe respiratory infections. It seems to have morphed over the years to become a potential risk to senior citizens as well.
"The older you get, the less brisk your immune response to illnesses and the more complicated your symptoms may be," said Dr. Stephen Mandell, senior medical director for Mary Washington Healthcare.
He agreed that COVID and flu "will always be here, unfortunately" as they mutate consistently and rapidly. Flu tends to be more of a seasonal disruption, but COVID cases can spike any time, as they did in mid-August, according to the Virginia Department of Health's respiratory illness dashboard at vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/respiratory-diseases-in-virginia/data .
The state health department no longer tracks COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths by locality, as it did during the height of the pandemic. Instead, the new dashboard provides state trends on a weekly basis and tracks visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers by health district.
Its data shows that COVID visits started to ramp up in August, peaked at 294 visits the week ending Aug. 24, then declined for the Rappahannock Health District. It includes Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford.
For the week ending Sept. 28, there were 74 visits to emergency departments and urgent cares for COVID in the local health district. Patients with COVID accounted for only 1.23% of people seeking care in that timeframe, according to the dashboard.
At Mary Washington Hospital, which has treated the bulk of local COVID patients since the pandemic began, providers aren't seeing the intense cases they did in the past, Mandell said. That's consistent with what's happening nationwide, he said, as the handful of patients hospitalized with COVID often have other health problems.
In addition, society seems to have developed the "herd immunity" that health officials predicted in 2020 and 2021. People have built up defenses to COVID, Mandell said, either from having the virus or getting vaccinated.
On that note, 12,261 people in the local health district have been vaccinated since late August against the current COVID variant, according to the state. Twice as many people, or 25,155 local residents, have gotten the flu shot which is recommended for everyone, ages 6 months and older.
Last week, Virginia health officials including Dr. Karen Shelton, state health commissioner, and representatives of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, got shots in the arm at an event in Richmond.
"Getting your annual flu shot is one of the simplest things every Virginian can do to protect themselves and others as the fall respiratory illness season draws near," Shelton said in a news release.
During the 2023–24 flu season from October to March, at least 31 million people nationwide contracted the virus, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 22,000 of them died.
Virginia reported 111,940 visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers for the flu and 149 associated deaths, according to the state health department. Three children under age 12 died.
In addition to the aches and pains, chills and fever that flu causes, the virus also puts a burden on hospitals and health care providers and can run rampant through schools, work sites and other places where people gather.
"When people get sick, it impacts them, their families and the broader community," said Sean Connaughton, president and CEO of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. "It can cost people lost time at work, lost days at school or worse. By getting vaccinated, people can do their part to keep communities healthier."
Cathy Dyson:
"Getting your annual flu shot is one of the simplest things every Virginian can do to protect themselves and others as the fall respiratory illness season draws near."
- Dr. Karen Shelton
Health, King George, features and is a local columnist
