(WFRV) – A surge in COVID-19 coincides with the start of the school year, and an updated vaccine is still at least a couple weeks away after being approved by the Federal Drug Administration last week.
“It’s definitely something to monitor, and we do get reports from our state partners on a regular basis,” De Pere Health Department health officer Chrystal Woller said. “City of De Pere wastewater levels are high right now, as are other jurisdictions within our state. COVID-19 hasn’t hit standard seasonality like influenza and other respiratory illnesses. So we will likely see peaks in the winter, fall, and even summer until this virus stabilizes.”
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According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services COVID-19 wastewater data, the concentration of the virus in wastewater is at its highest level since February this year.
Municipalities like De Pere, Manitowoc, Peshtigo, and Sheboygan are in the “very high” category, the highest level, and continue to see “significant increases.” Oshkosh is also in the very high category, and while Appleton is in the high category, one bracket lower, it is reporting a significant increase.
“Anytime people get together indoors, there’s going to be a higher risk of transmission,” Dr. Donald Beno, an Aurora BayCare Children’s Health pediatrician, said. “Hopefully our new vaccine coming out in the not too distant future, I know it’s been approved, we’re just waiting on shipments, as it does match the current version that is going around in our community.”
In Little Chute, Smith Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Nic Smith is preparing for an order of 400 doses of the updated COVID-19 vaccine that targets the current strain. Smith has been in contact with representatives in Pfizer, who let him know to start phasing out his stock six weeks ago.
“The new vaccine is a monovalent vaccine. It’s basically going to go after the omicron, the new variant, which is JN.1,” Smith said. “We had been in contact with the Pfizer rep, so we had stopped ordering it and kind of let patients know. It’s extremely safe, and studies show that the long-haul symptoms, such as the long COVID symptoms, are reduced by 40-50%.”
Smith will begin offering the vaccine in the third week of September. Due to low demand, he currently only has a vaccine clinic at his pharmacy on Tuesdays, and on some days, only a handful of patients come in to be vaccinated.
Smith surmises that demand will jump slightly, but he is not sure how much. He says there should not be a scramble to get the vaccine as soon as it is out, but it would be a good idea to receive it within a few weeks of its release.
“I don’t think it’s a huge rush to get it in September; I think as long as you get it sometime in the fall before things start to close up, I think that would be sufficient,” Smith said. “We have no idea on the demand. We’ve seen crazy demand in 2022; we were doing 200 doses in a day, and now we do weekly injections, so we do it every Tuesday.”
Woller says parents can contribute to keeping schools healthy by keeping their children up to date on vaccines, encouraging hand washing and arm-over-the-mouth when coughing, and staying home from school when they are sick.
“It’s very important to keep your kids home if they’re sick, again stressing that handwashing and staying up to date on vaccines,” Woller said.
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The Center for Disease Control also updated guidelines this summer regarding the length of time people need to be quarantined after contracting COVID-19.
“Staying home until 24 hours after your fever has resolved, without the use of fever-reducing medications,” Woller explained.
