While the severity of COVID-19 is far from what it was during the height of the pandemic, case numbers are starting to increase once again in the D.C. region, according to figures provided by MedStar Health.
“It’s something we have to keep our eye on,” said Amanda Joy, director of advanced practice with MedStar Health urgent care.
Joy said the COVID-19 positivity rate across more than 30 MedStar Health urgent care facilities in D.C., Maryland and Virginia is now up to 13%. At the height of the pandemic is was more than 40%, she added.
At the start of July, that figure was at 7%.
“So just in a month, it’s almost doubled,” Joy said. “We expect outbreaks here and there throughout the year.”
According to Joy, the increase in COVID-19 cases has not been associated with an increase in hospitalizations and severe illness.
“Most of the patients that we’re seeing have pretty mild symptoms,” Joy said. “They are recovering very well at home.”
The number of COVID-19 cases in a particular area has generally been more difficult to determine recently, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer tracks and releases the number of new infections as it did throughout the worst of the pandemic.
Also, the wide availability of home-based tests means people who test positive fly under the radar and are not officially recorded as having COVID-19.
“If you’re positive at home, then we have no ability to track you,” Joy explained.
An updated COVID-19 booster shot is expected to be available in the fall, which will target variants that are currently circulating.
“Variants have a mind of their own,” said Joy. “You just have to keep a very low threshold for things that are changing and make sure that you’re keeping a pulse on what’s happening so that you protect yourself.”
Nationwide, weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by more than 12%, according to new data published by the CDC, marking a second straight week of that key indicator of the virus climbing.
At least 8,035 hospital admissions of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were reported for the week of July 22, the CDC said Monday, up from 7,165 during the week before.
