As Hidalgo County continues to see a decline in COVID-19 case activity and virus-related deaths, DHR Health struck a familiar tone Thursday: Do not let your guard down.
According to Dr. Federico Vallejo, a pulmonary and critical health physician at DHR Health in Edinburg, the community will continue to see spikes in the number of cases due to the loosening of restrictions occurring throughout the county, but not at a critical level.
On Thursday, Hidalgo County reported just 15 cases in its daily report, no deaths and a drop in hospitalizations with 34 patients in local hospitals with the virus — one of the lowest days on record in terms of local case activity.
“What is next for COVID is that more than likely we are going to be seeing peaks during the fall and more than likely in specific populations,” said Vallejo, explaining that those who are immunocompromised should continue to take precautions.
The good news is that, outside of minor ebbs and flows, hospitalizations have been in decline for several months now, creating for many who track those figures the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
People don’t always have to wear a mask in public places now, which has been one of several indicators of how communities are attempting to return to normalcy.
Vallejo reminded that residents must, however, remain conscious of their own health and the health of their families, and suggests people continue to wear a mask in places with poor ventilation
“The numbers are really low; they are the lowest they have been. The hospitalizations are extremely low that we have not seen a critical patient with COVID … in the hospital for at least two or three weeks,” Vallejo said. “That is a sigh of relief for all the hospitals and health care workers but we can not put our guard down just yet.”
Although Hidalgo County is showing endemic numbers, Vallejo said COVID-19 cannot be named an official endemic due to it being a “global war” that continues to affect all nations.
“In the whole world, last week was the first week where the deaths were decreasing,” Vallejo said. “The world health organization still has it as a pandemic and as an emergency but here in our area we can say that it is getting into endemic numbers.”
The COVID-19 sub-variant BA.2 is quickly becoming a dominating strain in Europe and in the U.S., where cases are once again on the rise. As of now, however, it has not shown up in the Valley, where the omicron variant continues to be the most common strain in the region, according to the doctor.
Testing, however, continues to be an important method of not just determining case numbers but variant activity. According to Vallejo, Valley health officials are dependent on out-of-area facilities for variant testing.
“Of the tests that are being done a percentage is being checked in different labs,” he added. “There is one in Austin and another one in Houston that checks which variant we are dealing with.”
Although COVID numbers are declining, Vallejo strongly encourages community members to get their third vaccine if they haven’t already as well as the fourth dose if an individual is immunocompromised.
