Few Californians have gotten updated COVID, flu vaccines as Thanksgiving nears

Whereas the prospect of a heated political dialogue at your Thanksgiving desk could be additional excessive this 12 months, the prospect of getting COVID at your loved ones gathering is decrease than it has been prior to now a number of years.

That’s even with hundreds of thousands of Californians anticipated to journey for the vacation.

“The underside line is that we’re in a really, superb place at this second,” mentioned Dr. John Swartzberg, medical professor emeritus of infectious illnesses and vaccinology at UC Berkeley.

Going into the fifth 12 months of post-COVID Thanksgiving festivities, ranges of the virus are low statewide, and round a lot of the nation. Santa Clara County’s wastewater testing, which measures ranges of the virus in native sewer sheds, exhibits the virus at low ranges throughout the county.

Knowledge from California’s public well being division exhibits “RSV and influenza exercise are low however rising” and “COVID-19 is at the moment low in California,” in response to information by means of November 16.

As of this fall, California public well being officers publish information on COVID, together with flu and RSV, in weekly respiratory virus updates. The replace from the week earlier than Thanksgiving exhibits the take a look at positivity charges for influenza and RSV have began to rise, whereas COVID take a look at positivity, hospitalizations and deaths stay low.

“We went by means of a extremely late summer time wave, and that basically bought a number of People immunized,” Swartzberg famous, as a doable rationalization for why COVID has but to start out surging this winter, usually a season when charges are excessive. In previous winters, COVID began to surge within the weeks main as much as Thanksgiving.

Whereas charges are low now, the specter of COVID has hardly disappeared. Whereas the chance has diminished, it nonetheless takes a devastating toll, killing Californians every single day. Since June 30 of this 12 months, the start of the respiratory virus season, 1,691 Californians have died from COVID. In the identical time, 49 have died from influenza, and one other 10 have died from RSV.

And whereas COVID was as soon as seen as much less of a menace to younger kids than different respiratory diseases, it has accounted for 3 pediatric deaths up to now this season. In the meantime, one pediatric dying has been attributed to flu within the first 4 and a half months because the respiratory virus season started.

The continued lethal menace of the virus is why public well being officers proceed to prioritize vaccination, particularly for essentially the most susceptible, these most probably to have a nasty final result.

However given rising skepticism across the COVID vaccine, many public well being companies are taking a distinct method to encouraging individuals to get a shot. And people new approaches could be working this 12 months, with vaccination charges up across the nation in comparison with the identical time the 12 months earlier than. However there’s a number of progress to be made, mentioned Swartzberg, including that annual flu vaccine uptake continues to be a lot increased than for the COVID vaccine.

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