It’s virus season: Here’s how to protect yourself

SPENCER DAVIS | UNSPLASH

As summer gives way to fall, people will congregate in closed spaces, which increases exposure to viruses like COVID-19. Now is a good time to take steps to prevent infection through vaccination.

Fall is here and that means virus season will ramp up.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that over August the trend for COVID-19 cases has decreased, however over the last few weeks according to the North Carolina Division of Public Health, there has been a slight uptick. 

“I was just looking at the North Carolina Division of Public Health's website,” said Dr. Jeremy Denenberg, a family medicine physician at Novant Health in Charlotte, “and they have really good tracking as far as kind of going back multiple years when we see increases in emergency room hospital visits, and some of those are just labeled as general respiratory viruses. 

“But they also have a breakdown on COVID, RSV, and flu. … In North Carolina it did look like there was a slight spike in activity the last month.”

NCDPH tracks levels of COVID-19 through the number of reported cases as well as virus levels in wastewater. 

“They take wastewater samples, and that has also shown a bit of an increase from the baseline in August and early September,” Denenberg said. “That's a good way to estimate that COVID activity may be increasing, especially since not as many people are getting tested, or if they're testing, they're testing at home and just not going in to see a doctor. 

“The data isn’t always perfect, but it's at least showing that there’s some uptick in the viral activity. And then if we have a similar year to last year, I expect that the months between late November and early springtime is when we see a spike in all respiratory viruses, including COVID.”

There is an updated vaccine for the most recent strands of the virus, but with federal initiatives like the Bridge Access Program shut down, it could become problematic for uninsured adults to get the vaccine.  

“I do know that typically the places that are going to be more likely to provide free vaccines if you don't have insurance would be the local health department or a federally qualified health center,” Denenberg said.

Recent variants of COVID-19, much like the prior Omicron variant, cause symptoms that largely resemble a bad cold or flu. This includes throat irritation, upper respiratory issues like congestion or a runny nose, nausea and vomiting as well as diarrhea are reported as well. 

“COVID is pretty much like a Venn diagram, and a lot of the symptoms overlap,” Denenberg said. “I don't know if the XFG strain is showing any different symptoms, but I was reading that we haven’t seen yet that there’s any increase in severity or mortality. I would just say that this is another strain that, if someone has not been exposed to this strain, then they are still able to get COVID multiple times because of the virus's mutation.”

How to stay safe

First and foremost, it’s recommended to get an updated vaccine. If insurance poses an issue, check with the Mecklenburg County Health Department to see what it offers. 

Wash your hands often, especially during colder months when viruses tend to fester. If you are around people often, wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of viral infection too. 

“I think obviously staying away from people that may have any sort of respiratory symptoms, especially your you know older relatives or immunocompromised people,” Denenberg said. “But probably the biggest thing is eating a healthy diet, supporting your immune system in other ways. [There’s] some evidence that maybe supplementing zinc, maybe vitamin C, but hard to say whether those are truly proven.

“We definitely saw that there is an increased risk during COVID with people with metabolic disease, obesity, diabetes. All of these do play a role in how your immune system responds to respiratory viruses. We know that our immune system responds best when we're kind of doing all these healthy lifestyle practices, getting enough sleep, eating a good diet, and limiting sugar. All of those things can be helpful to help our immune system.”

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