Amid the hold of winter weather and decelerating vaccination rates, Kansas City has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 infections. According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the last week of November, Missouri’s COVID-19 hospitalizations reached their highest level since January, with 621 new patients recorded statewide. Comparably, Kansas reported over 200 COVID-19 hospitalizations weekly for five out of the past six weeks, a statistic not recorded since early March. This elevation of COVID-19 activity is particularly visible in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, as reported by the CDC in a respiratory illness summary dated December 8. Across the five counties forming the Kansas City metro area, new COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 10% or more between the final weeks of November, the CDC data indicates.
Jackson, Johnson, and Wyandotte counties reported 125, 61, and 35 new hospitalizations, respectively, during the week ending December 2. The University of Kansas Health System has also observed a significant increase in COVID-19 patient admissions, with 33 current patients and seven in the ICU as of Monday morning, up from 19 on the previous Friday. The troubling rise in cases is palpable nationwide. Despite the challenge of obtaining accurate COVID-19 test positivity data due to home testing, the national CDC region, encompassing Kansas and Missouri, is witnessing the nation’s highest positivity rates on NAATs, a type of highly sensitive test. Out of approximately 6,500 NAATs reported in the region during the last week of November, 16.7% have returned positive results. However, hope comes in the form of increased vaccination efforts.
Experts staunchly advocate for vaccination as a crucial defense against the virus. A new booster shot is now widely available at local pharmacies, health departments, and medical facilities in the metro area. Intriguingly, new research from Columbia University postulates that this booster isn’t solely effective against the strains it was formulated to combat but also offers a degree of protection against new virus strains.
Despite this promising news, CDC data reveals a low uptake of the booster, with only around 17% of U.S. adults and under 8% of children having received it as of December 2. Concurrently, nearly 41% of U.S. adults have already been immunized against flu this winter. The CDC promotes simultaneous administration of the flu jab and the new COVID-19 booster as an effective prevention measure against both illnesses. The federal government now provides free at-home COVID-19 tests for all households, eligible households may order up to two batches of four tests each. Remember, vaccinations and free at-home tests are part of our collective arsenal in the fight against COVID-19.
Source: https://www.aol.com/covid-19-rise-again-kansas-184832712.html