DENVER — Flu and RSV have come and gone this year, so if cold-like symptoms have been putting a damper on your summer plans these past few weeks, Colorado health experts say it’s very likely the coronavirus is to blame.
The state — just like pretty much the rest of the country — is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases this summer due to two different strains from the Omicron family – KP.2 and KP.3. Nicknamed “FLiRT” by variant trackers to help the public better understand the wide variety of circulating strains of the virus, these two strains combined — which may be better able at getting past the body’s defenses due to mutations in the spike protein — accounted for nearly 55% of all strains circulating across the state as of June, the most recent data the state has.
“Since about April of this year, we've started noticing an increasing trend in the number of COVID cases that have been going on in the state of Colorado,” said Dr. Ming Wu, a primary care physician at AdventHealth in Littleton. “We've seen more cases in the clinics, people testing positive for COVID.”
Data from the state confirms those observations. COVID-19 cases have been on an upward trend since mid-May in Colorado, with nearly 1,300 new cases reported in just the last week alone, according to the latest data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Those numbers are likely an undercount, however, since most people now test at home — if at all — and the majority don’t report their results to state or federal health authorities.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Colorado have also increased to levels not seen since March, with 111 people hospitalized for the disease as of Tuesday compared to 66 at this same time last year — a nearly 70% increase when comparing year-to-year.
Across the country, emergency room visits for COVID-19 increased to 23.5% as of July 6, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with about 1.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. Though the numbers might seem concerning, they are still lower than last winter, when 7.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 people were reported by the CDC. It's not clear, however, how accurate this picture really is since hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 hospital admissions to the federal government.
Concentrations of the virus in wastewater — which has replaced case numbers as a more reliable metric to show how prevalent the virus might be in the community — have also increased over the past several weeks across the state, with more than half of all treatment facilities showing steady increases in viral replication since early May, when none were, according to CDPHE data.
“The fact that we still have thousands — 2,000 cases — every week that are (being) reported is of concern,” said Dr. May Chu, a clinical professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. “It should tell us that we shouldn't forget that SARS-CoV-2 is still amongst us. It has not gone away.”
Though it may be surprising to some to see a rise in COVID-19 cases over the summer, Chu said that ever since SARS-CoV-2 appeared on the map, Colorado — along with the rest of the country — has always had a summer surge.
Chu said that virologists like herself expect that as the virus continues to circulate in people for the foreseeable future, “that a regular pacing might occur and then we can begin to predict when it could occur, probably along with the other respiratory viruses.”
It’s not clear if that will ever come to pass, however, as the CDC quietly admitted in an update posted over the Fourth of July holiday that SARS-CoV-2 is likely to remain a year-round threat given “there is no distinct COVID-19 season like there is for influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)."
In its update, the CDC recommended a multi-layered approach so you can protect yourself against infection and prevent others from becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2. The multi-layered approach includes getting vaccinated, wearing a well-fitting, high-quality mask, ventilating indoor spaces, practicing proper hand hygiene, and following CDC quarantine guidance if you test positive for the virus.
What’s causing the uptick in cases this summer?
CDC officials say a number of factors could be at play, including new variants that are not just more transmissible but better able at getting past our body’s defenses, as well as decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations.
Though the newer “FLiRT” variants have mutations that make them more transmissible, Chu said those mutations aren’t statistically important as their rate of transmission only varies slightly compared to previous strains. However, because many different strains of the virus are circulating at the same time, “you can imagine that there’s a lot more virus growing,” she said.
“Part of it, too, is a bit of the virus variation. The virus still is young enough that it'll keep changing based on environmental circumstances,” Chu said, adding that “as it changes, it could get worse or it could get less infectious. We actually don’t know.”
Wu, on the other hand, attributed the rise in COVID-19 infections to the low uptake of vaccines across the state.
Data from the CDPHE shows about 30% of Coloradans ages 5 and up have only gotten 3 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (up to 6 doses are available now for certain groups of people).
“A lot of patients have said, you know, I've gotten enough COVID vaccines. I don't want this one, and so they haven't gotten it,” Wu said.
What you can do to protect yourself and others this summer
While COVID-19 vaccines can protect you from getting seriously ill, they might not protect you against SARS-CoV-2 infection, both experts said.
“If you’re in a room that's tightly closed, with a lot of people that you don't know, you should mask because that increases the chance the transmission,” Chu said. “If you are the vessel for the reproduction of that virus, you're going to … make yourself sick, and other people are likely to get it from you. So you just have to be careful.”
Wu agreed, adding other measures like handwashing and socially distancing from others if you're sick could help protect not just yourself but others as well.
“If you do feel ill and you need to go out, wear a mask to protect your neighbor. If you sneeze and your germs aren't spreading everywhere, you're preventing your neighbor from getting that virus and so you're protecting the community,” he said.
If you test positive for COVID-19, Chu recommends calling your healthcare provider immediately and seek antiviral treatment like Paxlovid “as soon as you can” as it’ll help you from getting worse.
Those looking for added protection should get vaccinated now against COVID-19, both experts said, though if you want to wait it out a little longer, an updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting the most recent variants will be available later this year.
The threat of Long COVID remains after infection
Though scientists and other health experts have seen a trend toward less severe outcomes and more typical symptoms of the flu with each new wave of the coronavirus, an encounter with COVID-19 doesn’t come without risks.
“With flu, there is not the residual Long COVID symptoms that about 8% of people suffer from. Flu doesn’t have that. RSV doesn’t have as much of that,” Chu said. “It is a risk and because this virus is still adapting to people, you're going to have lots of cases.”
While people who have had severe COVID-19 are at increased risk of developing Long COVID, CDC officials have said Long COVID can affect anyone, including children. Commonly reported symptoms include fatigue, brain fog and post-exertional malaise (PEM), but more than 200 symptoms have been associated with the condition which can affect various organs of the body, including the brain, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the reproductive system, among others.
The illness can last for weeks, months, or even years, and can be debilitating “in ways that significantly limit the daily activities of affected individuals,” according to the latest annual report on Long COVID in Colorado. It’s believed Long COVID has affected 10% of the state’s population so far.
Chu said that while scientists have been able to learn more about Long COVID since the start of the coronavirus pandemic four years ago, “the outcome at the moment still doesn’t tell you exactly how we can predict – one, if you can get Long COVID, and two – what your symptoms are (going to be). We're still gathering that information.”
Which is why Chu said it’s important for Coloradans to remember that COVID-19 is still around us and to be aware of the risk each infection can bring.
“If you are able to mitigate it, or reduce it by masking, by the various different kinds of practices that we've all known about for (years) now that continue to be in effect, then the risk of (developing Long COVID) gets lower,” she said.
