Whereas the prospect of a heated political dialogue at your Thanksgiving desk may be additional excessive this 12 months, the prospect of getting COVID at your loved ones gathering is decrease than it has been up to now a number of years.
That’s even with tens of millions of Californians anticipated to journey for the vacation.
“The bottom line is that we’re in a very, very good place at this moment,” mentioned Dr. John Swartzberg, scientific professor emeritus of infectious illnesses and vaccinology at UC Berkeley.
Going into the fifth 12 months of post-COVID Thanksgiving festivities, ranges of the virus are low statewide, and round a lot of the nation. Santa Clara County’s wastewater testing, which measures ranges of the virus in native sewer sheds, exhibits the virus at low ranges throughout the county.
Knowledge from California’s public well being division exhibits “RSV and influenza activity are low but increasing” and “COVID-19 is currently low in California,” based on knowledge by means of November 16.
As of this fall, California public well being officers publish knowledge on COVID, together with flu and RSV, in weekly respiratory virus updates. The replace from the week earlier than Thanksgiving exhibits the check positivity charges for influenza and RSV have began to rise, whereas COVID check positivity, hospitalizations and deaths stay low.
“We went through a really late summer wave, and that really got a lot of Americans immunized,” Swartzberg famous, as a potential clarification for why COVID has but to begin surging this winter, sometimes a season when charges are excessive. In previous winters, COVID began to surge within the weeks main as much as Thanksgiving.
Whereas charges are low now, the specter of COVID has hardly disappeared. Whereas the danger has diminished, it nonetheless takes a devastating toll, killing Californians day by day. Since June 30 of this 12 months, the start of the respiratory virus season, 1,691 Californians have died from COVID. In the identical time, 49 have died from influenza, and one other 10 have died from RSV.
And whereas COVID was as soon as seen as much less of a menace to younger youngsters than different respiratory diseases, it has accounted for 3 pediatric deaths to this point this season. In the meantime, one pediatric loss of life has been attributed to flu within the first 4 and a half months for the reason that respiratory virus season started.
The continued lethal menace of the virus is why public well being officers proceed to prioritize vaccination, particularly for probably the most weak, these most certainly to have a nasty end result.
However given rising skepticism across the COVID vaccine, many public well being companies are taking a distinct method to encouraging folks to get a shot. And people new approaches may be working this 12 months, with vaccination charges up across the nation in comparison with the identical time the 12 months earlier than. However there’s numerous progress to be made, mentioned Swartzberg, including that annual flu vaccine uptake continues to be a lot greater than for the COVID vaccine.
“Americans have it sort of backwards” Swartzberg mentioned. “There are many more [Americans] immunized against influenza than COVID, yet COVID is a much more serious disease.”
As of this week, 18% of eligible folks in Santa Clara County had obtained an up to date COVID vaccine, about twice the statewide vaccination charge of 9.6%. However 30% of eligible residents within the county have obtained a flu vaccine this 12 months.
”Though our charges are low, we’re nonetheless doing higher than final 12 months,” Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County well being officer, mentioned final week, throughout a panel hosted by the Massive Cities Well being Coalition, including that she and her company are nonetheless in search of new methods to encourage vaccination. “Our strategies are changing away from telling and more to listening and understanding,” she mentioned.
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