COVID on the rise in Dane County: What you should know – The Capital Times

You're not alone if you suddenly have more friends or colleagues saying they have COVID.

Epidemiologists for Public Health Madison & Dane County say that while COVID-19 levels are low compared with last winter's peak, they have noticed infection rates are trending upward.

Those observations follow national trends. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows thatCOVID-19 test positivity rates are rising nationwidethe percentage of cases reported to the CDC increased from 3.1% in mid-May to 9% at the end of June.

In Wisconsin, emergency department visits for people with diagnosed COVID-19 have increased by 10.2%, what the CDC calls a "moderate increase." The overall rate of COVID among patients in emergency rooms is still minimal, however, at 0.7% of all visitors for the week ending on June 29.

In Dane County, that percentage of ER patients with COVID is slightly higher at 0.93% for the same time period, according to theRespiratory Illness Dashboard from the Public Health Madison & Dane County office.

Thats consistent with data captured by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

"The amount of COVID-19 found in wastewater surveillance remains low, however, there is an identified increase noted statewide," Jennifer Miller of the DHS communications team told the Cap Times via email.

Wastewater numbers can give a better picture of the current state of COVID-19, which can detect the presence of the virus before someone experiences symptoms, or if they're asymptomatic, or never tested to confirm they have COVID.

The DHS describes Madison ashaving low concentrations of the COVID-19 virus in wastewater, but the city has been experiencing an uptick starting in mid-May. The state agency also reports a38% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations for Wisconsin's south-central region between June 16 and June 29.

Local and state health professionals recommend staying up to date on the COVID vaccine you can still receive a dose of the 2023-2024 dose before an updated version comes out, anticipated for fall. Experts also find themselves shifting away from words like boosters and encouraging people to think about COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses such as the flu.

COVID-19 is "still circulating and continuing to mutate on a fairly regular basis," said Dr. Jim Conway, medical director of the UW Health immunization program.

Doctors and public health officials continue to track new variants, but all are mutations of the Omicron variant, he said.

Morgan Finke, communications coordinator for Public Health Madison & Dane County, said she understands that people might be confused about the current state of the virus, particularly regarding updated vaccines and the use of the word "boosters."

"When the vaccines first came out, we had the original formulation. Then (the next recommended dose) was called a booster. It was boosting up that original formulation, but then we started to update the vaccine itself," she said.

The term "booster" might have implied that getting the vaccine simply "boosts" immunity rather than being a new formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine that also offers protection against new variants. "It may help some of the confusion to do away with calling them boosters, Finke said.

Along with information about immunity post-infection, Conway said he sees how people might be unsure if they needed an updated shot.

"I think everybody knew that if you got the first wave of vaccines and if you caught COVID-19 along the way, that combination gave you pretty good protection," he said.

Finke said to think about the COVID-19 vaccine like the flu vaccine. The flu vaccine gets updated every year to best protect folks against this season's flu variants," she said.

Currently, the CDC recommends that everyone 5 and older receive at least one dose of the 2023-2024 vaccine. Further recommendations may be suggested based on age, past vaccination status, and for people who are immunocompromised.

In particular, Conway notes that the CDC recommended that people 65 and older were encouraged to get an additional dose of the 2023-2024 vaccine. We noticed that immunity from it was actually fading and we started seeing people that were in those high-risk groups getting sick again, he said.

The 2023-2024 vaccine targets specific sub-variants of the Omicron variant and "could restore protection against severe COVID-19 that may have decreased over time," the CDC website says.

But Conway said getting people to get the updated vaccine has been challenging.

"We said everybody should get that last fall, and then we know it fell on deaf ears, and a lot of people didn't get it," he said.

The CDC estimates that22.5% of adults 18 and older got the 2023-2024 updated COVID-19 vaccine. Wisconsin estimates are higher than the national average at 28.6%.

The CDC recently adopted recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the 2024-2025 season. Once an updated COVID-19 vaccine is available, which Finke and Conway anticipate will happen in the fall, the CDC will recommend everyone 6 months and older get a dose.

As was the case with the 2023-2024 dose, people 65 and older and people who are immunocompromised may be encouraged to get more than one dose.

The recommendation might signal a change in how public health officials communicate concerns and suggestions about COVID-19, likening it to other respiratory illnesses.

Registered nurse Nancy Wanek fills syringes with doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic at Alliant Energy Center in Madison in April 2021. Public health officials recommend people continue to receive annual COVID vaccinations, as they should for the flu or RSV.

Conway said he's seeing messaging focused on getting people prepared annually for COVID-19, the flu and RSV, all of which are respiratory illnesses.

"Kind of the dream scenario would be someone goes to their primary care physician once a year, and they get all three taken care of at once," he said.

One of the struggles of thinking about COVID like the flu is that the flu has highly predictable spikes, usually in the fall. COVID spikes can happen anytime although in the past, COVID cases have risen in the fall and winter with modest summer spikes.

But that doesnt mean the recommendation to treat COVID like a respiratory illness changes and it doesn't mean you should ignore the 2023-2024 dose if you haven't gotten one yet.

"If someone is looking to get their vaccine this summer, they're more than welcome to do that if they're eligible," Finke said.

If residents are confused about their vaccination status or what version of the vaccine they need, they can check theWisconsin Immunization Registry. The database keeps track of vaccination records for COVID-19 and other illnesses like the flu and RSV and gives scheduling recommendations for updated vaccines.

The CDC'sBridge Access Program, which provides free COVID-19 vaccines for people without insurance or whose coverage doesn't cover the cost of the shot, is set to end in August. Finke recommends people look now to get the 2023-2024 vaccine if they haven't yet.

"I would come sooner than later. We do have doses at our clinics right now, and we're ordering more to get us through September," she said.

"We usually tell people that to minimize side effects, they should try to wait 28 days from when they get one version of the vaccine, but I don't think there's any chance that we're going to see the new vaccines any sooner than the end of August. It's only July, so this is the time," Conway said of people who haven't gotten the 2023-2024 vaccine.

In the meantime, Finke encourages people to consider COVID-19 like any respiratory illness.

"I think the bottom line is if you're dealing with any respiratory symptoms, whether it's coughing, sneezing, you're feeling feverish, that could really be any respiratory virus you could be dealing with the flu, you could be dealing with COVID. It's best to stay home and keep to yourself."

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COVID on the rise in Dane County: What you should know - The Capital Times