Author: mcnicolefe58cd6465

Nicole Cummings
18, September 2024

Schools in the New River valley (NRV) area are seeing more and more students with symptoms similar to COVID-19. Some of them end up with positive COVID tests and some don’t.

Why it Matters: There are a few new strains of COVID-19 that are spreading like wildfire, and it’s important to know the distinction between these new variants and the common flu, which also surges annually around this time.

The Big Picture: Beginning the week of August 2024, “the latest mutations of
SARS-CoV-2– specifically KP.1, KP.2, KP.3, and their sublineages — accounted for most infections in the United States,… according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance,” said Bridget Balch of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
● These new strains have a, “slightly greater transmissibility, partial escape from
immunity, and waning immunity from previous vaccinations and infections,” said Bridget Balch.
● “As of Aug. 3, the percentage of people reporting positive tests for the virus had
reached its highest point since January of 2022,” said Balch.

Zoom in: Particularly in the NRV area, medical professionals have seen a spike in
students with COVID symptoms, but not all of them have COVID.
● “We have seen a lot of COVID cases cases in the past few weeks! The wave started
about 1-2 weeks after classes began, but has finally started to slow down over the
past week. Now, we are also seeing some other virus that’s causing similar
symptoms, but is negative for covid on PCR tests,” said Sydney Rock, a certified
Physician’s assistant at Virginia Tech’s
Schiffert Health Center.

• This surge seems to be slowing down, but flu will probably start up shortly and
be the predominant virus causing illness in the area. I predict another covid surge
around/after the holidays, as people travel and their immunity from this past
surge wanes,” said Rock.

Zoom out: COVID will continue to affect students and the larger general population
for a long time to come.
● “I think covid is here to stay, unfortunately. Thankfully, it has weakened enough
to not cause quite as serious of illness, but is still highly transmissible.
● Recommendations for managing illness are ever-evolving. Basically, stay home
until you are fever-free for 24 hrs (without fever-reducing meds), wear a mask around others for the first 5-7 days
of symptoms, and demonstrate common
sense hygiene measures like wash your hands frequently, cover your
cough/sneeze, etc,” said
Rock.
● “This strain seems to be
causing more sore throat,
headache, and fatigue as
leading symptoms. There’s
also still the typical
cough/congestion, but
perhaps not quite as much as past strains. Fevers and body aches seem to be hit
or miss,” said Rock.

What we’re watching for: The strains of COVID continue to develop, and morph as
the virus adapts to the immunity vaccines.

• “Montefiori says that the specific formulation doesn’t make a huge difference, since the latest variants haven’t mutated enough to avoid neutralizing antibodies completely. The important thing, he says, is to remain up-to-date on vaccination,” according to Bridget Balch.

• “In preclinical trials in mice, Moderna found that a previous version of the vaccine updated to target JN.1 showed high levels of neutralizing antibodies against not only JN.1 but the FLiRT variants as well, according to a Moderna spokesperson,” said Balch. 

• “Montefiori predicts that we will need annual updated COVID-19 vaccines, just as seasonal flu shots are the norm,” said Balch.

• But how well the vaccines work will depend largely on people getting them. Though COVID-19 is not as dangerous as it once was, it is still deadly for some, including young children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised, and it carries the risk of long COVID,” said Balch.