Seasonal illnesses taking root in south-central Kansas region
Editor’s note — The following is a story written through a Kansas Newspaper Foundation grant made possible by the Legacy Regional Community Foundation. This article was written by Judith Zaccaria, a reporter for the Courier/Traveler. She can be reached at newsdesk@ctnewsonline.com
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By Judith Zaccaria, Courier/Traveler — With the holiday season behind us, the Cowley County community seems to be fairly healthy. But the sick season has just begun, according to local health officials.
People are falling ill with flu, RSV, and COVID. But cases are sporadic and not widespread, said Tom Langer, director of the City-Cowley County Health Department. “It’s not an epidemic.”
Langer said people have not been as quick to get the COVID vaccine this year; the shot given out in September is already out of date because, like the common cold, COVID mutates quickly. The vaccine given out in the fall is not as effective against the current JN1 strain, he added.
People have to understand that COVID, like the common cold, will never go away, Langer said.
“It’s with us forever,” he said.
He said he would never tell anyone not to get the COVID shot because he is not anti-vaccine, but he said he does not recommend getting the current vaccine now because it is out of date.
“People deserve to know that,” Langer said.
The health department is seeing more cases of flu and RSV rather than COVID this year. Both are respiratory diseases with potentially serious outcomes, principally pneumonia. Those outcomes have not occurred, however, and people have not needed to be hospitalized often, Langer said.
Langer said he has not seen widespread sickness in the most vulnerable populations — the very old and the very young.
“I’ve been watching the care facilities very carefully,” he said.
If people get either the flu or RSV, “You’re going to know you had it,” Langer said, but in most cases people have not been very sick.
The health department is encouraging good health practices to prevent getting sick, spreading it, or making it worse: stay home, isolate, get tested, wash hands, clean and disinfect, drink and eat well, and take medication.
The Community Health Center in Cowley County is seeing more cases of COVID and RSV rather than flu, according to Dr. Treasure Wehner. They have seen Influenza A but not B. Most people struck with illness have not been getting very sick unless they already have severe medical problems.
“I don’t know whether COVID is not as strong as it was or we’re treating it differently,” Wehner said, but patients are not as ill.
What Wehner is starting to see and is causing her concern is virulent cases of gastroenteritis with abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting.
“It lasts only about 24 hours,” she said.“But you get really sick. I think we’re just seeing the beginning of this.”
Langer said a very good response from the public in terms of getting flu shots and the RSV vaccine has helped to keep down the number of cases.
The health department is recommending RSV immunizations, especially for children 13 and younger.
“Charge up your immune systems” to help your body resist the diseases, Langer said.
The SCK Health Medical Center is reporting an uptick in the number of patients with flu, RSV, and COVID, though flu and RSV are the most common. Most emergency room patients could be sent home with medication, though some had to be kept for a day because of dehydration, according to Dixie Simpson, director of nursing.
Tests conducted at William Newton Hospital in October, November, and December have shown fairly steady numbers of patients with all three conditions, according to Sarah Johnson, director of marketing for WNH. Those numbers continue to be very low.
For December, RSV had the highest numbers, followed by COVID, then flu. Most of the flu showing up right now is Type A.
Now that kids are back in school, we may see a rise in cases of flu, RSV and COVID, Langer said. Wehner warns we may also see more stomach-related infections.
“It’s January,” she said. “A lot of these things happen in January.”
