Hits: 133
60 NEW CASES A DAY JULY 30-AUGUST 5 HITS SPREAD OF FEB 26-MARCH 4
LAST AUGUST COVID INFECTIONS WERE DECLINING. NOW THEY ARE RISING FAST
- WPCNR COVID SURVEILLANCE. Data from New York Covid Data. Observation & Analysis by John F. Bailey. August 7, 2023:
Covid cases rose 120 TO 423 July 30 through Westchester Saturday August 5 with a day by day number of infections up consistently all week.
The takeaway: the disease is spreading faster now than it has in 6 months.
Sunday saw 54 cases on the first day of week July 30, followed by 44 cases on Monday (31st) and a shocking 80 new cases Tuesday(August 1), 66 on Wednesday (August 2), 72 August 3, 52 cases on Friday followed by 55 new cases on Saturday, the 4th of August.
This 423 new case week is the first week since February 26 through March 4 when 424 new cases were reported.
That is when only lab tested positives were reported and all positives the result of persons coming in to be tested when they thought they had symptoms. In April the state dropped the requirement that all with symptoms had to be tested.
Instead the antigen tests were distributed and people were on the honor system to test themselves. Well now it appears a lot of us are no longer testing to see if they have covid after they test positive in an antigen. They may have light symptoms. They could be carrying the covid or one if its variants. They may not want to find out they have it, if it means staying out of work, not attending an event. Whatever.
The problem is there is not any new vaccine to ride to the rescue which was the case last August. The vaccine was kicking in and it slowed down July growth. by 40%
The midweek soar in the spreading of covid based on persons getting lab verified tests indicates a lot of people have covid and are passing it more quickly.
As Dr. Katelyn Jetelina advised last week if you test positive with an antigen test you need to get a test or at least test twice with an antigen test because they are unreliable.
Get tested if you go antigen positive twice. Check out the Jetelina column on WPCNR last week. Don’t take my word for it.
As August plows on we will see if this disturbing midweek rising tide of positives. 55 postives on a Saturday is shocking.
That has not happened since February 18 of this year when 70 tested positive back before the only way you could test was at a pharmacy or a health department. That was before the vaccines stopped the spread in April.
Finish up your shots and go for a lab test if you antigen test positive. Know if you are carrying the covid plague. And remember you need if you have covid to take paxlovid within 5 days of infection, otherwise it is not effective, as Dr. Jetelina points out.
The covid disease has been rolling along all July now it is gathering momentum because of our behaviors.
Be aware of that.
At the present rate of 60 new cases a day in Westchester if that stays the same, we will have 1,700 infections for the month. And, we do not know how many people out there have it the disease and are out spreading it. Last August we have 6,000 new cases. At the present rate we may approach that.