OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Local well being officers need to remind you to pay attention to the ‘tripledemic’ – COVID-19, RSV and the flu – forward of this holiday season.
According to CDC information, Oklahoma sits in the very high category for the flu. Our surrounding states are additionally sitting in the very excessive class for the identical virus.
“I think it’s just a matter of time before we see even more cases of influenza in Oklahoma,” stated Dr. Dale Bratzler with OU Health.
Bratzler stated he hasn’t seen any vital points inside Oklahoma hospitals, however the Sooner State did see a spike in each COVID-19 and flu instances in addition to hospitalizations after the Thanksgiving holiday.
This can be after the state was seeing a rise in RSV cases, inflicting well being officers to sound the alarm.
“So, nationally, we’re at the highest level of COVID hospitalizations that we’ve been now for a number of weeks,” Bratzler stated.
There are simply over 5,600 instances energetic in Oklahoma. The state can be sitting at 204 hospitalizations with 47 of them being in the ICU.
“If you look at the map of the variants that are in our region of the country, that’s changed dramatically over the past couple of months,” Bratzler stated.
The state can be seeing a number of variants and 4 of them are new. All 4 of the newer variants are immune to monoclonal antibody remedies that the hospitals needed to deal with sufferers and even forestall COVID-19.
“The new variants that are out there, you can still get infected, even if you’ve had previous infection with COVID or some of the old vaccine doses without the new booster,” Bratzler stated.
Three of these variants account for nearly 70 % of latest instances as of Nov. 25.
Bratzler stated they produce other antibody remedies they use however have run into points as the virus turns into immune to them amongst different issues.
“We are struggling now a bit more with what our treatment options are for COVID 19,” he stated. “So again, I’m strongly recommending people get at least one dose of the new COVID booster.”
Bratzler stated even when he’s in the hospital he’s seeing extra COVID sufferers.
They additionally needed to cease utilizing one antibody remedy as a consequence of issues it could trigger with different medicines and the variants’ resistance to it.
publish credit score to Source link