Cases of COVID-19 are ticking up in Minnesota. Here’s what to know – INFORUM

ROCHESTER Wastewater data shows an uptick in COVID-19 infections in many parts of the U.S., including Rochester, this July.

"It definitely seems that COVID case counts are rising both nationally and locally," said Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, an internal medicine physician and head of Infection Prevention and Control at Mayo Clinic.

Data from WastewaterSCAN shows a rising level of COVID RNA found in Rochester's wastewater since late June. The amount of virus detected had been low and stable through the early summer. Now, the level detected mirrors the amount of virus found in late January 2024, as a spike of winter cases fell.

That has translated to primary care providers seeing more patients lately with respiratory illness symptoms, Sampathkumar said.

"(They are) also getting more people who are letting us know that they tested positive at home," Sampathkumar said of her colleagues. "The number of people self-reporting positive tests has definitely gone up in the last couple of weeks."

The number of people hospitalized with COVID has increased slightly this month, Sampathkumar said, but most cases "still seem to be relatively mild, probably because of prior immunity either from vaccination or prior COVID illness."

The percentage of visits to local emergency rooms is still declining, however, said Matthew Giljork, an Olmsted County Public Health epidemiologist.

"Hospitalizations have not translated to an increase in ICU utilization or deaths so far," Giljork said.

Contributed / OMC

At Olmsted Medical Center, they have not observed an increase in hospitalizations, said Dr. Odette El Helou, an infectious disease physician at OMC.

At the state level, per the Minnesota Department of Health's July 25 update, COVID hospitalization rates increased slightly over the previous week but still remain low.

The dominant COVID variant causing infections across the U.S. is KP.3, which Sampathkumar said does not appear to be more transmittable nor cause more severe disease.

A summer wave of COVID infections is not necessarily unusual Sampathkumar said it appears that COVID is settling into a seasonal pattern: a peak of cases in the winter, and a smaller peak in the summer.

"It's probably too early to tell for sure, but it appears at this point that it's settling into sort of a bimodal peak," Sampathkumar said.

Other factors, El Helou said, are people traveling more during the summer and therefore being more exposed to the virus and the level of protection from last fall's COVID vaccines is beginning to wane.

To avoid getting sick, the same precautions that health professionals have been sharing since the start of the pandemic still work.

"Practice good hygiene, wash hands," said El Helou, "good ventilation stay outdoors if possible, open the windows of your home if you have other people in."

Contributed / Mayo Clinic

For vaccinations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month recommended that everyone 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID vaccine this fall alongside the seasonal influenza vaccine.

"COVID boosters, we hope, will be available by early September," Sampathkumar said. "Everyone should definitely seek out that vaccine and get it. As we've all seen, getting vaccinated may not completely protect you from getting a COVID infection, but it's very, very effective at preventing serious illness and preventing deaths."

If you do get sick, get tested early to see if it is COVID, Sampathkumar said, so you can seek treatment like Paxlovid if you are eligible.

"We recommend you stay home if you have symptoms and that you wear a mask for at least the time that you have symptoms and potentially for up to five days after your symptoms improve to protect everyone else around you," Sampathkumar said.

Contributed / Wastewater SCAN

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Cases of COVID-19 are ticking up in Minnesota. Here's what to know - INFORUM