(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As families and friends make plans to get together for the holidays, Chicago-area health care workers are planning for a potential surge of COVID-19.
“We are preparing for a COVID surge that will be right around the holidays or after the holidays,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, Cook County Health’s Chair of Family and Community Medicine. “Hope we’re wrong.”
Loafman said cold weather, plus a lot of people traveling, plus a lot of indoor activity is the COVID-19 equation we’re all too familiar with.
“And vaccine rates — people current with their vaccines —- is nowhere near as high as it needs to be to prevent a surge,” he said. “That’s the last element of what we consider to be the perfect storm for case rates to go up.”
For those planning to attend holiday gatherings, Loafman said it’s a good idea to test 12 – 24 hours before showing up if you’re asymptomatic. The closer to the event, he added, the better.
That way, if someone tests positive after you’ve all presumably tested negative and have embraced the holiday togetherness, then everybody else doesn’t have to isolate if they’re asymptomatic, according to Loafman.
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Although isolating won’t be necessary, Loafman said it’s still important to start testing.
“The real key is testing on Day 5 after the exposure,” he said. “If you’re going to test once, that’s the day to do it. The most likely, if you’re negative, then you have a pretty good shot at having cleared it. If you picked it up, it should be positive by then.”
If you’re wondering about the expiration dates on those home tests, Loafman said, generally, most COVID-19 tests are good for a year after their use-by date.
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People who test positive for COVID-19 and are considering taking Paxlovid, which Loafman described as an effective treatment, should start taking it in the first day or two, he said.
“And now we do have a good supply, so early on there was a concern that people who really needed it wouldn’t have it, but it is out there,” he said.
Loafman said flu cases are also increasing. Fortunately, though, cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are dropping.
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