Roanoke health district leader discussed flu, COVID activity for upcoming months
ROANOKE, Va. – As we approach the fall and winter months, it is difficult to predict what COVID-19 may bring.
During her virtual public health briefing on Tuesday morning, Dr. Cynthia Morrow from the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health Districts said that overall COVID activity seems to be reducing in both our area and the state.
She did admit, however, that the testing results are less dependable in terms of giving us a complete and accurate view of the situation because of home testing. However, all of the data sets that they track indicate a drop in activity, with the one exception being the number of local hospitalizations, which increased a little over the last week.
Having said that, Dr. Morrow is continually stressing the need to maintain a modest attitude about this infection. It is difficult for those in charge of public health to forecast precisely what effects it will have.
“I think that all of us are hoping that between the amount of vaccine that we’ve had out there with our new booster shot that covers both Omicron and the original strain, and with a lot of natural immunity, we’re certainly hoping that the worst continues to be behind us,” Morrow said. “But we do expect COVID-19 activities to continue to fluctuate.”
According to Dr. Morrow, there are currently no new varieties that need to be monitored.
Concerning influenza, Dr. Morrow said that the local health department starts tallying up the number of cases at the beginning of October. According to her, it is still much too soon to make any assumptions about how the season will play out. With that being stated, the best time to be vaccinated is right now.
“And I certainly encourage anybody who’s concerned about the upcoming influenza season to get vaccinated. This is the prime time to get vaccinated,” she said. “September and October are the months we really wanna get everybody vaccinated to be optimally protected. So, if you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, I certainly encourage you to go out and do so.”
It would indicate that COVID mitigation techniques have been helpful in reducing flu activity during the last two years. Morrow said that there has been some influenza activity already, but that it is mostly at a low level. The months of January and February often see the height of the flu season.
