Officials: COVID-19 more like flu, colds; vaccines, quarantine still urged

COVID-19 infections are still reported daily, but not to the extent of early 2022 and before.

Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency medical director Dr. Karen Luparello said the virus now is similar to the flu or a common cold with most of the same symptoms.

"The new variants are causing those kinds of symptoms, flu-like symptoms," she said. "Thank goodness people aren't getting as severely ill from those new variants."

That is not a reason for the public to let its guard down.

"I would still recommend vaccination," Luparello said. "That's helping, making less hospitalizations for all of those patients and less deaths for those patients."

Dr. Luparello said infections, hospitalizations and deaths "certainly have declined significantly."

"So we're hoping that the vaccines will continue to help," she said. "Don't forget your booster because those vaccines do wear off over time."

Health Officer Rebecca Burns attended the August board meeting by ZOOM after testing positive and suffering from flu-like symptoms. Despite working with COVID-19 since the pandemic started, she had not been previously infected. She is vaccinated.

The medical director said, "The CDC recommendation if you are vaccinated is to isolate at home for five days. Try to have no contact then when you're ready to come back when you're symptom-free or after your five days, but you should be symptom-free. Then you can also wear a mask in public for the next five days."

With school back in session, there are no reports of COVID-19 breakouts in the three counties.

"We have not had any yet, but it's only a couple of days in," Dr. Luparello said. "I am a little bit concerned that we're sending people into environments where it's pretty crowded."

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The medical officer asked parents, "If your child has any symptoms, just keep them home." Notify the school. "Make a phone call to the school and keep them home."

The doctor said, "The best thing is just not to spread those symptoms around, be it a cold, or the flu, or COVID." No matter what virus you have, "It's the same recommendation. It's hard to tell the difference or to tell the difference sometimes without testing."

Burns reported to the board the contractor for the new audio and video system at the Coldwater health agency offices delayed installation because installers tested positive for the virus.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Officials: COVID-19 more like flu, colds; vaccines, quarantine still urged