Have COVID and flu hit their seasonal peak in Stanislaus County? Here’s what to know
Hospitals are admitting a steady number of patients afflicted with seasonal flu and COVID-19, but it’s too early to know if the respiratory diseases have peaked this winter in Stanislaus County.
The local risk of catching COVID-19 remains at the medium level based on monitoring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kamlesh Kaur, a county public health spokeswoman, said outbreaks of COVID-19 sparked by recent holiday parties could play a role this month in increasing transmission of the omicron variants.
As children return to schools this month, parents may rely again on home test kits to see if their symptomatic child has COVID-19.
Kaur said the state has allocated test kits to counties, and community-based organizations can order the kits to distribute to families. It may take two or three tests to determine if a child no longer has COVID-19, she said.
According to CDC tracking, the case rate for COVID-19 in Stanislaus County is 93.5 per 100,000 population and the hospitalization rate is 17.3 per 100,000. Patients infected with COVID-19 are filling 10% of staffed hospital beds.
Los Angeles, which has a “high” level of transmission, has a case rate of 234.7 per 100,000. As of Dec. 29, the COVID-19 test positivity rate in California was almost 12%.
In Stanislaus County, wastewater testing shows BA.2 as the most prevalent omicron variant. The omicron variants are easily spread from person to person in households and in crowded public places.
State and federal health agencies still have recommendations for reducing the spread of COVID-19. In counties with medium transmission, the CDC says people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to a COVID-infected person should wear a high-quality mask when indoors in public.
The state is averaging 6,800 daily cases, with 4,560 COVID patients in hospitals, and a rate of 27 deaths per day. Stanislaus County has recorded 1,908 COVID deaths since 2020.
“It looks like it is going down, but the holidays could play a role this month,” Kaur said in an email. “We’ll find out in the next couple of weeks and see if cases are going down.”
Staying up to date with vaccine is considered a good way to prevent a serious illness caused by the omicron strain.
Kaur said the number of hospital emergency department visits tied to influenza has decreased recently. But county health officials don’t know if the flu season will follow a historical pattern of peaking in January or February.
State says flu transmission is high
Counties including Stanislaus in a central region of California have been in the “high” category for influenza activity, while the rest of the state is moderate, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Stanislaus public health officials reported Dec. 29 that two men younger than 65 had died from influenza. They were the first flu-related deaths in the 2022-23 influenza season among adults who are not in the senior population.
Kaur said the flu vaccine this year is a good match for the strains that are in circulation. The county has recommended a flu shot as a way to prevent serious illness, especially for seniors and those with chronic health conditions.
Families can order free COVID-19 test kits from the federal government at www.covid.gov/tests.
This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
