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With most schools back in session and the fall respiratory season looming, COVID-19 hospitalizations in North Texas are continuing to crawl up from a month ago, according to data provided by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.
The council — which represents hospitals in 19 counties across D-FW — reported 394 patients hospitalized with the virus on Sept. 11, more than doubled from 196 hospitalizations on Aug. 3. Moreover, 17 of these 394 patients were pediatric cases.
Nationally, COVID cases also appear to be increasing this summer, at 18,871 weekly hospital admissions as of Sept. 2, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In mid-July, the CDC reported a small uptick in cases nationally for the first time since January.
In the Dallas region, COVID-19 hospitalizations have been rising since June, said Steve Love, Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council president and CEO. On June 21, the council reported 73 hospitalizations, with two in pediatrics.
“Between June and September, I’m certainly not saying we’ve had a surge, but we certainly had an uptick,” Love said. “We’ve had an increase, very similar to what you’ve seen throughout the nation.”
Ever since classes resumed at most school districts, hospitals have seen more cases among children and adolescents, he said.
Last August, hospitals in North Texas reported more than 800 hospitalized patients — meaning current COVID-19 hospitalizations are half of what they were this time last year.
Love noted that hospitalizations are somewhat of a “lagging indicator,” since many people check themselves into the hospital after they’ve been infected for a few days.
The majority of North Texas hospitals are admitting COVID-19 patients who have XBB or XBB 1.5. — which are considered derivatives of omicron. Love added the EG.5 strain, which has been picking up some steam nationally, hasn’t taken hospitals by storm as of yet.
COVID cases may have increased this summer due to people staying indoors and out of the heat. However, as temperatures begin to cool down, public health experts are hoping hospitalizations plateau soon, especially if more people begin to spend time outdoors.
“We would love to see it start to decrease and go down and maybe even get to the level it was in June,” Love said. “But we just don’t know as we approach the highly respiratory virus season.”
With flu season around the corner and RSV still at large, it’s possible emergency rooms could become overwhelmed, making it harder to assist patients.
“If you have a high concentration of people with flu, and then you have people with COVID, and then you have higher than usual levels of RSV, emergency rooms are going to get crowded, and that overcrowding would make for longer wait times,” Love said.
Additional protection against COVID may become available soon, especially after the Food and Drug Administration approved updated vaccines Monday. In addition to providing immunity, the new booster, which specifically targets the XBB strain, is also intended to reduce the spread of the virus.
“We want people to be diligent in doing the things they can to prevent being infected with COVID,” Love said.
The vaccine is still pending guidelines issued by the CDC, which will determine who will be first in line for the shot.
Fall respiratory season
Seasonal allergies have also arrived earlier than usual this fall, due to warmer temperatures that have caused ragweed to bloom sooner, said Dr. Shane Fernando.
“Because of the changing weather patterns, normal flora behaviors have begun to change as well,” Fernando said. “Instead of the shorter periods or more predictable patterns of allergy symptoms for the general public, we’re seeing unusually long periods … of allergy in this period.”
Ragweed stays in the air from around mid-August to November and tends to peak in mid-September, according to the Allergy and Asthma Center of Texas. With allergies already here and flu season on the horizon, some people are concerned about knowing which illness they’re suffering from.
Allergies are typically accompanied by an itchy and runny nose, which is usually not seen with COVID, Fernando said. Getting a fever and experiencing shortness of breath is also rare in allergies and may be a sign you’re suffering from something else.
However, it may be more challenging to identify whether you have the flu or COVID, since they do have similar symptoms. But there are a few differences, Fernando explained.
For one, COVID symptoms generally occur two to 14 days after exposure, while flu symptoms usually take place a day after exposure. Additionally, depending on whether the individual is vaccinated, COVID can last up to two weeks, while influenza generally lasts about five to seven days in a healthy person.
The hallmarks of COVID tend to be a loss of taste or smell, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea, Fernando said.
“If you start feeling flu-like symptoms and you think you might have been exposed or been to an area, like a large crowd gathering or been around a lot of children … then you should definitely get tested,” Fernando advised.
Most care facilities and hospitals offer testing for both the flu and COVID, which can be a convenient way to determine what you have, he added.