The new normal: COVID-19 on its way to becoming endemic – KELOLAND.com

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) On March 10, 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in South Dakota, bringing the state into the coronavirus pandemic that was sweeping the world. Now, two years later, the state is seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as deaths from the virus reached 2,848.

At the start of 2022, active COVID-19 cases were higher than at any other point in the pandemic, peaking at 36,155 cases on January 25. As of Thursday, March 10 active cases have dropped to 3,117. The sharp decline in cases following the surge in January is fascinating according to Dr. David Basel, Averas Vice President of Clinical Quality. The health system went from having 200-210 patients across a four-state region at Omicrons peak to now only 50.

Were at about a quarter of the admits that we had in February compared to now, Basel said.

Its a question people across the world have been asking for two years: When will the COVID-19 pandemic end? While the coronavirus continues to mutate and spread widely, the disease will remain a pandemic. But, when enough immunity is achieved, through vaccination or infection and mutations become less severe, COVID-19 is expected to become endemic.

According to Basel, the end may be in sight if you look closely at the positivity rates and declining hospitalizations.

It very much appears that COVID is going to become endemic kind of like influenza where it is going to be here at a certain level and its probably going to have some peaks and valleys throughout the year, Basel said.

Basel says while many people may be testing at home for COVID-19 and not reporting to the state, the positivity rate can help determine the current community spread of the virus. Basel says recent positivity rates below 10%, and sometimes dipping below 5%, is a good indication that under-testing is not happening right now. In Thursdays update from the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) the positivity rate was reported at 5.9%

If were just under-testing then that test positivity rate would still be staying high telling us were not testing enough people. In fact, the percent positive on our tests right now is down, Basel said.

Currently there are 96 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in South Dakota. At the peak of Omicron, hospitalizations reached 423 on January 23, 2022. Basel says the steep decline is a good indicator of where the community spread is at in South Dakota.

While cases and hospitalizations continue to trend downwards, COVID-19 deaths have held steady with 18 deaths being reported by the DOH so far this week. Basel says that its important to remember that deaths often lag a few weeks behind downward trends in the rest of COVID-19 numbers. He adds that some of the hospitalized COVID patients in the Avera Health system have been hospitalized since fall of 2021 receiving treatment for the virus.

Weve got patients still dying from COVID almost every day, Basel said. So, if this was a normal influenza year and we had that many it would be the worst influenza year on record.

Moving forward, Basel says we can expect the pandemic to turn into an endemic like influenza where there are peaks and valleys with localized outbreaks throughout the year. In former pandemics, Basel says that each peak was followed by peaks that became lower and lower each time.

Certainly, we hope that continues to be the case where this is kind of the new normal where we have to be aware of COVID, but we can go back to a closer-to-normal way of daily living, Basel said.

With the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and states beginning to loosen mask mandates, the pandemic is not yet over according to health experts. Basel says the country would need to remain at this low level of community spread for a while longer before endemic status is achieved.

In the meantime, Basel recommends testing for those experiencing cold and flu like symptoms whether with an at-home test or by going to a testing location. He also encourages immunocompromised people to continue masking if there is an increased risk associated with COVID-19 infection.

As Avera Health marks the two-year anniversary, Basel expressed his gratitude to the frontline workers who worked tirelessly over the past two years for their work.

Its been a grind and continues to be a grind, he said.

The health system has performed over 690,000 COVID-19 tests in the past two years with 88,000 positive results. In that time, they have hospitalized over 8,300 people for COVID-19, provided over 15,000 treatments for the virus and delivered over 200,000 vaccinations.

Its been a difficult and challenging time for our medical providers and front-line caregivers. They are the true heroes of this story, Bob Sutton, President and CEO of Avera Health, said Thursday in a statement. Theyve seen a lot of severe illness and death. They rejoiced with those who recovered and went home. They grieved with families who lost a loved one. Numerous times, they stood in for family members who were not able to be there at end of life, or held a phone or tablet as families said their good-byes.

Basel also said that he was thankful to the public for taking masking and testing guidelines seriously over the past two years to help curb surging cases.

We know how much of an impact this has had on each and all of our lives, Basel said.

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The new normal: COVID-19 on its way to becoming endemic - KELOLAND.com