Due to waning immunity and new sub variants, COVID cases are on the rise in Nebraska again.
Monday, the Douglas County Health Department reported 810 new positive COVID cases since their previous report from Thursday. Doctor Mark Rupp, Professor and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Nebraska Medical Center, urges people in the community to stay up-to-date with their vaccinations and boosters.
“Cases are definitely going up," he said. "You know, our hospitalization here at the Nebraska Medical Center have definitely gone up and in addition we have a lot of our employees who are unfortunately out sick," he explains, "that’s part of the equation, what goes on in the community affects our employees and that impacts our ability to take care of patients.”
Dr. Rupp says there are two reasons for the rise in cases right now. Because a lot of people got sick with COVID months ago, their antibodies are trailing off and causing waning immunity. The other reason is new sub variants, including BA.5 which can cause serious illness for those who are not vaccinated.
He cautions those at higher risk who develop COVID need medication to avoid something more severe.
“We do have some medications that we can use for folks, particularly those who are at higher risk for progression, they should be talking to their clinicians if they develop COVID so that they can be put on medications to try to prevent more severe disease," said Dr. Rupp.
Doctor Rupp says that, according to data, getting the vaccine is still your best bet to protect against severe illness.
This week the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department moved its COVID risk dial from "yellow/moderate", to the low end of "orange/high risk" due to increasing cases in the county.