State health leaders are encouraging Minnesotans to take extra precautions against respiratory viruses during the holidays, including the vaccinations they would need in the next two days to be fully protected by Christmas Day.
Unusually early levels of influenza and RSV, a virus that is most troublesome for babies, have combined with COVID-19 to fill hospitals. Federal data Monday showed 8,228 patients were admitted to Minnesota hospitals, an 86% occupancy rate that rivaled the worst days of the pandemic. More than 10% of patients had COVID-19, influenza, or both.
Holiday gatherings are notorious for the spread of germs, which could make matters worse unless people reduce risks by staying home when sick, wearing masks in indoor crowds, covering coughs, and seeking recommended vaccinations. said Jan Malcolm, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health.
“We’ve always thought of those as very personal health decisions, and they are, but their impacts absolutely add up for all of us,” Malcolm said, in one of his last briefings before he retired in January. “When enough people make the decisions that protect their own health and the health of others, we end up putting less stress on our health care system.”
RSV and influenza related hospitalizations have begun to decline from early season highs. The 2,100 flu-related hospitalizations in Minnesota so far are double the total of 936 over the past two seasons combined, but the weekly total has dropped from 559 two weeks ago to 501 last week and health officials said it could drop again when Know the total for this week. Thursday.
Health officials said it’s too soon to tell if the respiratory virus season has peaked. Low vaccination rates and festive gatherings could fuel another surge, along with the emergence of an influenza B strain along with the two A strains now causing disease.
“We’ve seen these types of pauses or dips in the past, only to see a new resurgence,” Malcolm said. “So we definitely don’t think we’re easily past peak pressure yet.”
RSV-related hospitalizations in the seven-county Twin Cities area have decreased from nearly 200 per week in November to 120 in the first full week of December. However, even the most recent number is almost double the peak in a typical season, said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, state epidemiologist and medical director for the health department.
“There’s still a lot of virus and it’s still having a big impact,” he said, “and we’re worried about gatherings…we could have transmission.”
Coronavirus levels have been relatively modest but steady since the summer, following two years of severe peaks and troughs in viral spread that caused 13,773 total COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota. However, viral loads found last week in wastewater samples at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant in St. Paul have increased 66% from levels found three weeks earlier.
The BQ.1 subvariant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus emerged in October and made up 51% of the viral material in wastewater samples last week. The variants have been problematic during the pandemic, because they present new abilities to evade the immunity that people get through vaccination or previous infection.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Minnesota had declined to a recent low of 458 on Oct. 15 but gradually increased to 653 on Monday, according to daily federal data.
Lynfield urged people to look for recommended vaccines, including the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine that targets the omicron coronavirus variants that have been dominant this year. Bivalent doses have now been approved by the federal government for people 6 months of age and older.
People tend to reach full immunity seven to 14 days after COVID-19 vaccines and 14 days after flu shots, he said, but they get some protection sooner.
“That doesn’t mean it goes from zero to 100%” after two weeks, he said.
Vaccination rates have been slow in Minnesota this season. Malcolm said that appears to be due to fatigue after three years of the pandemic along with a lack of awareness about new boosters and the importance of receiving boosters when viral levels rise.
More than 95% of seniors at higher risk for severe COVID-19 have received a vaccine in Minnesota, but only 54% consider themselves current and have maintained their immunity levels with recommended boosters.
Source: news.google.com