COVID surge calls for precautions, not for alarm

The Hindu

2 days ago

Even though the uptick in COVID-19 cases may not be a cause for alarm, masking in public places, especially hospitals or closed spaces, should become a norm now for the elderly, pregnant women, and those with chronic comorbidities, Health department officials have reiterated.
'We just want people to be aware that COVID is still around, alongside other respiratory viruses, and that they should take regular precautions such as masking in public places to prevent themselves from contracting the virus. Those with respiratory symptoms should strictly maintain cough etiquette and hand hygiene and stay indoors till their symptoms subside to prevent further transmission,' a senior clinician said.
As of Monday, Kerala has 1,416 active cases of COVID-19. One new death , that of an 80-year-old, who had been undergoing treatment for pneumonia with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, diabetes, hypertension and coronary artery disease, was also reported.
The State maintains that it wants no part in the COVID frenzy that seems to be slowly taking over the rest of the country. It is dealing with COVID just as it would manage influenza, with the focus on standard precautions as well as transmission prevention.
To augment testing
It has been decided to augment testing and efforts are on to get all public RT PCR testing labs active. Influenza A is also very much in circulation now, which means that testing those with respiratory symptoms would help in identifying influenza cases, who can be initiated on antivirals early.
'We are not worried about the rising case numbers and are only looking at the hospital admissions and case severity, which seems to be fine now. However, the fact that we have a sizeable proportion of elderly in the community, as well as a chunk of adults with uncontrolled chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, are risks we cannot discount,' a senior official said.
The Omicron variant JN.1 and its sublineage LF.1 currently in circulation in the State causes only mild illness lasting over two to three days. However, emergency rooms and OP clinics are beginning to be crowded with people having fever and respiratory symptoms. Fever, fatigue and lethargy seem to be the main symptoms; sometimes accompanied by sore throat which could become a dry cough. In some cases, doctors have reported secondary bacterial infections requiring antibiotics also.
Circular
In a circular issued by the Health department on Monday, officials directed all public and private hospitals to be watchful for the red flag signs --breathlessness, chest pain, fall in blood pressure, cyanosis, etc. -- in all persons coming to outpatient clinics with respiratory symptoms. It has also been directed that all hospitals admit COVID/influenza patients in separate wards, test family members with symptoms and to institute crowd control measures in hospitals.
Hospitals have also been asked to review their preparedness measures, including oxygen availability, medicines, oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, etc., and to conduct mock drills
As influenza is also doing the rounds, for the elderly, the annual influenza vaccine is a good idea to prevent chest infections, which could worsen to pneumonia. Those who are known to have diabetes and hypertension should ensure that their blood sugar and blood pressure levels are well regulated.
Public health experts point out that except for a small minority, almost everyone in the State has either been vaccinated against the older SARS CoV 2 virus variants or may have been exposed to the virus in the past, especially when the Omicron wave first swept across the State in 2022.
Thus, almost everyone in the State has either vaccine-derived immunity or hybrid immunity (through the infection as well as vaccination) against the earlier variants. However, this immunity might have waned or might not be effective against Omicron and its variants because of the latter's immune evasiveness. Even so, previous vaccination is expected to protect people from severe illness.
'Our situation now is very different from 2020, when COVID first appeared. The State does not recommend that anyone vaccinate against COVID anew,' a senior official said.