As Christmas and other holiday celebrations are expected to spur more family get-togethers, state health officials report an increase in flu cases prompting renewed recommendations for individuals to get vaccinated against both the flu and against COVID-19.
During an update on the COVID-19 pandemic by the Texas Department of State Health Services, health officials were seeing an increase in influenza activity throughout the state, according to Dr. Emilie Prot, regional medical director for Public Health Region 11.
“Although, proportionately, it is still low, representing around 3% of our respiratory specimens that are tested at our clinical laboratory,” Prot said. “So there’s a rise but it’s still low so that is good news.”
The most recent influenza surveillance report, which spanned the week of Nov. 28 through Dec. 4, reported an increase in the percentage of positive flu tests from hospital laboratories.
During that week, hospital labs reported 147 positive specimens which was 2.67% of all specimens tested. So far, since the start of the flu season on Oct. 3, there have been 530 positive specimens which is 1.06% of all specimens tested.
Texas public health laboratories reported 19 positive specimens for the same week, Nov. 28 through Dec. 4, which was 5.74% of the total specimens they tested. For the season so far, there have been 35 positive specimens which was 3.67% of all specimens tested.
The report notes, however, that influenza testing at public health laboratories has significantly decreased due to the increased testing for COVID-19.
“I am recommending co-administration of flu and COVID, either vaccine or booster,” Prot said, “and that is critical since we are seeing this rise and we are at the (precipice) of another wave with omicron.”
Throughout the state, Prot reported there were 44 confirmed cases of the omicron variant and three suspected cases. None of those are in the Rio Grande Valley.
Information on the omicron variant is limited, she said, but what is known is that of the 44 individuals who tested positive for the new variant, their ages ranged from 1 to 84 and cases appeared to be split evenly between males and females. Those affected include people who were unvaccinated and those who were fully vaccinated.
Three of those individuals are not hospitalized and one is hospitalized. The rest are unknown.
“We don’t have a lot on their symptoms; it’s been very difficult to contact people from what the reports have said, so making sure that people do get tested is very important,” Prot said.
She added the best way for people to protect themselves from the omicron variant is to get vaccinated, so Prot urged people to do so or get their booster shot to reduce any chances of getting a severe case of COVID.
While the data they’ve seen so far shows that omicron hasn’t caused a lot of hospitalizations, Prot noted there were a lot of people with comorbidities or specific risks in the region.
“We’ve been through this before so there’s nothing new here; we do know what to do,” she said. “I did think that we would be at a different point in time with a larger amount of people that are vaccinated. Unfortunately, we’re back into the beginning of another, what seems like another wave, so I think we need to keep monitoring the situation and continuing to make sure that people know what to do to protect themselves and their families, especially with the holidays coming up.”
Cases of COVID-19, overall, are slightly increasing throughout the state, increasing by 851 new cases over the previous seven-day period.
“We have an 851-case increase, that’s about 26 confirmed cases per day and about 10 probable cases per day,” said Mauro Ruiz, communicable disease manager for Region 11. “As far as total confirmed cases, we went up for the past seven days, up about .3% increase and a slightly larger increase in the probable cases.”
On Thursday, Hidalgo County reported 138 new cases including 43 confirmed cases, 79 probable and 16 suspected cases, according to a news release issued Thursday.
That includes cases in schools where on Thursday, seven new positive cases among staff members and 22 new cases among students were reported.
There have now been a total of 848 cases among staff and 4,409 among students since the county began tracking cases in schools earlier this year. Currently, there are 951 active cases.
Altogether, the county now has a total of 121,777 cases since the start of the pandemic. Those include 70,341 confirmed, 48,256 probable and 3,180 suspected cases.
Hidalgo County also reported two more COVID-related deaths — a Mission man in his 50s and a Donna woman over 70 — who were both unvaccinated. Their deaths raise the county’s COVID death toll to 3,514.
Cameron County health officials reported 23 new cases Thursday, tallying 54,255 there since the start of the pandemic. Another 21 people have also recovered in the county.
There were two more COVID-related deaths in Cameron County reported Thursday — unvaccinated women in their 20s and 70s from Los Fresnos and Brownsville, respectively. Cameron’s COVID death toll is now at 2,022.
Starr County reported two new confirmed and nine probable cases, according to DSHS data, while Willacy County reported two new probable cases.
Throughout all four counties, which make up the Lower Rio Grande Valley Trauma Service Area, there were 85 COVID hospitalizations on Wednesday, according to DSHS data posted on Thursday, which were an increase from the 76 hospitalizations reported the day prior.
The 85 patients included 56 adult patients, 26 adult patients in intensive care units, and three pediatric patients.
In Hidalgo County, alone, there are 60 COVID hospitalizations, including 57 adults and three pediatric patients, according to the release issued Thursday.
The 60 also includes 21 patients who are being treated in intensive care units, all of whom are adults.
