North Texas experiencing summer COVID spike

NORTH TEXAS — Whether the culprit is international travel, a cruise or your kids' summer camp, many North Texans are learning firsthand that COVID is in the midst of a summer spike.

"We definitely have a new variant floating around. There is no question about that," says Joseph Chang, MD.

Dr. Chang is the Chief Medical Officer at Parkland Health and says the increase in cases isn't a "wave" or "surge." He prefers to call it a COVID "bump."

"It is causing more infection," said Chang. "There's also no question about that. I think the good thing, though, is this: we are not seeing a severe rise in hospitalizations. So that's really good news. Right? So even though across North Texas, we've had a 30 to 40% surge in the number of cases, most of those have not turned into hospitalizations. So that's the good news. This does not appear to be a severe form of the disease, at least at this point."

Chang calls this latest COVID variant an "Omicron cousin."  It spreads easily and while it does not appear to be particularly severe for most patients, there are exceptions.

"It's those elderly, over the age of 65 to 70 that need to be a little more careful. Hopefully, they've been keeping up with their vaccine boosters because that will help a lot. The other folks obviously are the cancer patients, diabetic patients, those with immunocompromised situations."

So what to do if you test positive?

"Stay home!" is the emphatic advice from Philip Huang, MD, Director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

Huang also recommends COVID booster shots if it's been longer than four months since the last vaccine for those 65 and older or with chronic medical conditions.

"I keep a mask in my car," says Paula, while running errands in Grand Prairie. Paula works in healthcare and says she never stopped taking precautions and urges others to do the same.

The most recent guidance from the CDC says patients testing positive can resume normal activity 24 hours after becoming fever-free without medicines. The agency also recommends taking precautions for the next five days such as masks and physical distancing when around others indoors.

"We do need to keep that in the forefront of people's thinking," says Dr. Chang.  "And remember, viruses don't really care what time of year it is, or who you are."