What's the COVID-19 outlook for winter in South Dakota?
Months away from the peak of COVID-19 in South Dakota, the state is prepping for another winter during the pandemic, but this year might not see a surge in cases as the previous two years.
The latest weekly COVID-19 update from the South Dakota Department of Health showed a steady decline in cases and deaths reported. Three South Dakotans have died within the last week based on the latest figures, with 63 others hospitalized with the disease.
In 2020 and 2021, the end of the year saw increases in the spread of the virus as fall went into winter, but this year an Avera doctor said cases won't spike as much.
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"That's kind of encouraging. We haven't seen a steady increase piling on top of each other like we've seen the last couple of years, at least so far," said Dr. David Basel, of Avera Health.
A year ago, there were 453 active cases of the virus across South Dakota, according to the state. As of Wednesday, the state reported 130 cases across the state.
Basel, an internal medicine physician and pediatrician, said one thing that does worry the medical community is the Omnicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious than previous variants.
"Because it's more contagious, immunity to it wanes faster than some of the previous ones," Basel said.
Hospitalizations aren't expected to increase like in previous surges, Basel said, but less severe cases can present themselves in people who are vaccinated or had COVID-19 in the summer.
"People out with COVID is gonna continue to happen," he said. "As far as hospitalizations, I don't think we're headed back toward the huge numbers that we had say last spring."
Another benefit hospitals like Avera and Sanford Health have in South Dakota is experience dealing with surges in COVID, Basel said.
And now vaccines and booster shots are also an option for those wanting to avoid a serious case of COVID-19.
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Dr. Mike Wilde, vice president, medical officer at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, said hospitalizations remain low in large part due to vaccine usage.
“We continue to see a low number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. With the new bivalent booster available, we recommend people get their bivalent booster dose along with their influenza vaccine to help keep themselves and others healthy this winter,” Wilde said.
Basel said it's possible to catch the flu and COVID-19, but avoiding either virus is as simple as scheduling a shot. You can even get both administered in a single visit.
Overall, South Dakota has seen a total of 263,468 cases since the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, and a total of 3,049 deaths. The deaths are defined as those who died with a COVID-19 infection.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Avera doctor says COVID-19 surge in South Dakota unexpected this winter
