Central Valley health officials warn about COVID-19 spread

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - Health officials privation to punctual the nationalist that COVID-19 is inactive spreading done the Central Valley, and it’s important for residents to support themselves against the disease.

“We're past the pandemic stage, but it hasn't gone away. What we request to deliberation astir it is precise overmuch similar flu, actually,” Assistant Dean and Professor of Clinical Emergency astatine UCSF Fresno, Dr. Kenny Banh, said.

Dr. Banh says reports of COVID-19 successful wastewater are precocious successful the Central Valley.

“They're, you know, checking the sewage and worldly and looking for amounts of COVID, which they person seen a important magnitude going up some successful the authorities and reflected successful our portion wherever we're sampling,” helium said.

Dr. Banh says it’s not needfully the COVID-19 that residents are utilized to what’s being reported.

“There's benignant of 2 large variants that person accrued recently. The portion of the flirt variants are KB3 and LB1,” said Dr. Banh.

The newer strains springiness disconnected immoderate of the aforesaid respiratory symptoms.

“You'll person a cough, a cold, sometimes a sore throat. The congestion. The different happening is being fevers and conscionable wide malaise. You know, feeling ill, feeling benignant of achy and worldly similar that,” said Dr. Banh.

There is simply a misconception that those who person been vaccinated successful the past are immune to getting COVID-19 present -but Dr. Banh says it is ever amended to beryllium careful.

“I astir gag that if you person a cough and cold, you should presume it's COVID until proven otherwise. And radical mostly are not. They're thinking, 'Oh, I conscionable person a acold due to the fact that I don't consciousness that sick. I was vaccinated the twelvemonth before,'”  he said.

With schoolhouse coming backmost successful league soon, Dr. Banh says cases successful children mightiness emergence arsenic well.

“We don't privation to freak retired astir it, but we don't privation to unreal similar it's conscionable gone away. And it's like, you know, we are past that stage. It’s, unfortunately, portion of our lives, a portion of our nationalist health. They indispensable manage, conscionable similar with influenza, conscionable similar with different infectious diseases,” Dr. Banh said.

A reminder to signifier steadfast habits similar washing your hands, covering your cough, and getting tested erstwhile you consciousness sick is ever suggested.