SAN ANTONIO – Dr. Jason Bowling, the chief epidemiologist at University Health, said there is an increase in COVID-19 cases across all age groups.
Bowling, who is also an infectious disease specialist and professor with UT Health, said a likely factor contributing to the uptick is that students are in close corridors in class and at school events, then going home and interacting with their sibling, parents and grandparents.
According to statistics from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Respiratory Illness Interactive Dashboard, a jump in the number of cases was observed from July to the end of August.
In the month of July, no COVID-related emergency room visits were represented for children ages 5 through 11, but on Aug. 1, statistics show there were 10 Covid ER visits in that week for the same age group.
By Aug. 29, ER COVID visits hit 61.
The numbers represent available statistics from all across the HHS’s public health region 8, which includes San Antonio and other cities and communities as of Sept. 3.
KSAT contacted a few of the local school districts to find out if their student populations are being impacted.
Officials with San Antonio, North East, and Northside Independent School Districts responded. All acknowledged that there is an increase in respiratory illnesses in general, which is something districts typically see at the beginning of the school year.
But they specified that they could not definitively say that students had COVID because that information is private and that diagnosis would have to be shared to the school by the students’ parents or guardians.
In addition, all the district officials KSAT contacted relayed that their respective classes and school activities have not been hindered or negatively impacted.
Bowling said it is important to note the spike in COVID cases it not surprising to health officials.
“What we’ve seen, it’s been pretty interesting over the last couple of years,” he said. “This is the third year in a row where we see most COVID activity in this late summertime period, where it starts to pick up in August and then have a higher number in September and then come back down.”
School district officials shared that their respective preventive measures and protocols are followed on every campus regularly. That includes sanitizing and disinfecting high-traffic areas and reminding students of the basic step of washing their hands.
Bowling recommended everyone do a self-assessment to decide if they need or should seek the vaccine or treatment, especially those who have a preexisting medical condition.
He said there are a lot of people that have minimal symptoms of COVID, so they are not going to the ER or the doctor’s office to be tested or receive treatment.
He added they do not realize they are actually potentially exposing others to the virus.
“I think we had a lot more COVID and everybody has some post-COVID fatigue, which I understand,” Bowling said. “I think it’s important to recognize that now you can have somebody that may have milder symptoms, may not have fever, but still could have COVID and potentially expose somebody else.”
“So, (it is) particularly important if you have someone again in your house that has a risk factor for severe illness such as they are older, or (they have) chronic medical conditions like lung disease or heart disease,” he continued.
He said there are options available should you develop COVID-19, like the at-home treatment Paxlovid and the in-hospital intravenous option Remdesivir, which has been administered in more severe COVID cases that now occur less frequently.
Bowling also said there are options for those who have just been exposed to COVID by someone who has it.
In terms of preventing COVID infections, he said people can choose to get the vaccine.
He said the updated vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month, and he believes it is in the process of being distributed now.
Bowling said community-based pharmacies should be receiving the first shipments of the vaccine followed by deliveries happening to healthcare systems.
An official with University Health shared with KSAT that the hospital system has ordered the updated vaccine and is currently waiting for them to be delivered.
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