COVID picking up, new vaccination out

NEWPORT – While COVID infections aren’t reported the way they were during the heights of the pandemic, indications are that the disease is surging again.

Matt Schanz, administrator for Northeast Tri County Health, can attest to that. He was out recently with a COVID diagnosis.

“I felt pretty bad for about four days,” he said. He had a body ache, fatigue, headache, mild congestion and a sore throat, but followed the advice of lots of fluids and sleep and is now doing okay. It was his first bout of COVID.

Regionally, he said there has been an increase in COVID but it hasn’t translated into an increase in the number of people seeking medical attention at area hospitals. That’s not to say that people don’t die from COVID. Statewide, the Department of Health said there were 1,110 COVID deaths this season in Washington.

Through Aug. 17, COVID accounted for 2% of hospital admissions and 2% of emergency room visits. Schanz said there is indication there has been an increase in COVID hospitalizations and emergency room visits nationally.

“We may see a similar trend in Washington state as we go through the next several weeks,” Schanz said.

He said that is indicated by the amount of COVID detected in wastewater.

The Spokane wastewater treatment plant has shown a significant increase in the COVID detection since July and continuing into August.

“We don’t have any wastewater treatment plants that test for the virus within Ferry, Pend Oreille or Stevens Counties so this data represents the closest sampling that does occur in our area and provides a very good indication of how much COVID is circulating within our region,” Schanz said.

NETCHD offices in Newport, Colville and Republic continue to provide free test kits to the public and has more people take advantage of the tests in recent weeks. While the NETCHD test kits are currently free, CVS plans to charge $201.99 before insurance for the updated vaccine, a spokesperson for the company said. Testing is about not spreading the disease.

“It remains important to test for COVID when respiratory illness symptoms appear and take the necessary precautions to help others not get sick,” Schanz said.

A new COVID vaccine is out. Schanz said it has started to arrive at area hospitals. NETCHD is ordering the updated vaccine and will offer multiple clinics in the region in the fall.

Not everyone thinks people should rush out and get a vaccine, as it is most effective in the first six months and may not be as effective when COVID peaks in the winter.

Whether to get it now or wait is the question Kaiser Health News asks.

“The FDA has approved an updated COVID shot for everyone 6 months old and up, which renews a now-annual quandary for Americans: Get the shot now, with the latest covid outbreak sweeping the country, or hold it in reserve for the winter wave?” That’s how Kaiser started an Aug. 26 story about the vaccine.

“It’s important for those in high-risk groups to get vaccinated, but vaccine protection wanes after a few months,” the writers say in this story. Those who run to get the new vaccine may be more likely to fall ill this winter when the next wave hits, said William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

On the other hand, by late fall the major variants may have changed, rendering the vaccine less effective, said Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, at a briefing Aug. 23. He urged everyone eligible to get immunized, noting that the risk of long COVID is greater in the un- and under-vaccinated.

Not everyone may really need a fall covid booster, but “it’s not wrong to give people options,” said John Moore, a virologist and professor at Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medicine College. “The 20-yearold athlete is less at risk than the 70-year-old overweight dude. It’s as simple as that.”