COVID-19’s comeback in SWFL: How bad is it?

The COVID comeback this summer in Southwest Florida has been mild with some people thinking their symptoms are allergies.

What’s not entirely clear is if a new strain of the virus, EG.5.1. nicknamed Eris, is to blame.

The more populous Lee County is seeing more cases compared to Collier County but that’s consistently been the trend since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

Lee saw 610 new cases for the week ending Aug. 3, a 61% increase from 379 cases the week ending July 20, according to the state Department of Health. The data is reported every two weeks.

The positivity rate is 23% among people getting tested for the virus and the overall volume is 76 cases per 100,000 population.

Collier saw 276 new cases the week ending Aug. 3, an 83% increase from the report two weeks earlier of 151 cases. The most recent positivity rate is 23%, the data shows. The volume is 67 cases per 100,000 population.

How do the numbers compare to last summer?

This summer’s data is drop in the bucket compared to a year ago but the state’s case counts don’t include at-home testing where positive results are not likely to be reported to the health agency.

President Joe Biden in April signed a bill ending the pandemic national emergency. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, has downplayed COVID’s impact after a brief state shutdown in 2020.

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DeSantis’ ban of mask requirements in schools, minimizing of vaccines and promotion of the “free state of Florida” was despite Florida often leading the nation in new infections and deaths during the summers of 2021 and 2022.

Statewide there were 15,170 new cases the week ending Aug. 3 this year compared to a staggering 73,347 new cases the last week of July in 2022.

Locally Lee had 2,449 new cases the last week of July in 2022 compared to 276 cases this year.

Collier was at 824 new cases the last week of July in 2022 while the new volume was 276 cases for the week ending Aug. 3 this year.

What do hospitals say?

Lee Health, the publicly-operated hospital system, is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 activity in its emergency rooms and walk-in centers.

But that’s no surprise after Fourth of July gatherings, said Dr. Mary Beth Saunders, system medical director of epidemiology prevention.

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“We assume that we will continue to see cases rise with the start of a new school year,” she said. “Overall, we are benefiting from still fairly low levels of the virus circulating and higher population immunity.”

Lee Health reports 49 new confirmed cases for the two-week period of July 27 to Aug. 9. Another 14 people had tests being processed.

There are 65 patients “on isolation” who are positive for COVID-19 but they are not necessarily hospitalized, she said.

“In general, patients are having mild symptoms, a cough that lasts for a few days and some congestion,” she said. “People are often confusing their symptoms with seasonal allergies.”

Hospitalized patients are not as sick as they have been with previous variants, she said.

 “As in the past, elder patients and other patients who are immune compromised are those who are needing hospitalization but these patients are tending to improve with treatment and supportive care fairly quickly,” she said.

Dealing with new COVID variants

In terms of the new Eris variant that is becoming more prevalent nationwide, Lee Health relies on the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for how much case activity is related to new variants.

The new Eris variant is slightly more resistant to the antibodies that people have developed through previous infection or from being vaccinated, she said.

At the same time, the new variant and another dominate strain is not causing different or more severe symptoms, Saunders said.

“Clinicians understand that variants will continually emerge,” she said. “If a new variant has different or more severe symptoms it is easier to make the assumption that there has been a change in the predominate circulating virus.”

Hospitals in Collier report more COVID-19 cases.

Physicians Regional Healthcare System is seeing an increase in patients with COVID-19, the flu and with respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, said spokeswoman Brittney Thoman.

The system has seven patients admitted with COVID-19.

“Last week, we were only seeing a few cases every day or so. Now we are seeing patients daily,” Thoman said.