Four years after the pandemic started, Hays County is once again seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases as summer continues.
Positive COVID-19 cases are no longer required to be reported to city or local health authorities since March 2024. However to detect spikes, Matthew Gonzales, department manager of the Hays County Health Department, said the city of San Marcos uses COVID-19 wastewater monitoring.
“We are no longer getting active information from local hospitals,” Gonzales said. “During a time like this, where we can’t get that information from hospitals and urgent cares through a more passive surveillance system, typically we can use other systems like wastewater surveillance.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with certain infections can shed pieces of viruses into the water through the sewage system when they use the bathroom. When that happens, the virus is then detected in the wastewater and is a reflection of the diseases found within a community.
According to the San Marcos COVID-19 wastewater monitoring reports, from March to May 2024, the detection of COVID-19 gene copies in the wastewater was low with 92,697 virus particles in each liter of the sample on May 28.
July 2 reported almost five times the amount of virus particles seen in May with more than 370,000 virus particles per liter. July also surpassed the 200,000 range that the months prior to the summer had fallen into.
Though this spike is less than pandemic and holiday peaks, Gonzales said there is a solid increase in positive COVID-19 cases. From June 18-25, the amount of effective virus concentration in the wastewater had an increase of 130,000 in the span of a week.
Despite this increase, Dr. John Turner, an emergency medicine physician at My Emergency Room 24/7 in San Marcos, said it is nothing out of the ordinary as COVID-19 has always seen a seasonal ebb and flow.
“For the last four years, every summer there’s a spike in COVID-19 and then it settles down,” Turner said. “It comes back again in the winter around the holidays and then settles down again shortly after February.”
Turner also said the increase in COVID-19 cases is not as big of a concern because the virus is no longer as deadly as it once was– it is more of a seasonal virus now like the flu.
Gonzales said he predicts COVID-19 spikes happen in the summer due to traveling and people exposing themselves to different communities who may not have the same rates of immunity.
“COVID-19 is something that’s always going to be there,” Gonzales said. “Now, that doesn’t mean to lower your concern about COVID-19. Just like any endemic, we should be asking ourselves, why is this happening?”
Sarah Doss, interim director of University Health Services, said the main difference between the virus now and in 2020 is increased community immunity.
“The main difference between now and 2020 is most persons in our community have some immunity to help them fight off COVID-19 infection,” Doss said in a written interview with The University Star. “This means that for most people, a COVID-19 infection causes less severe illness than it would have in 2020.”
According to Turner, as COVID-19 has evolved, the infection’s symptoms have varied as well. Some patients come in reporting symptoms of strep throat, ear infections or bronchitis, while others report sinus infections or colds.
“Generally speaking, the symptoms have lessened in their severity over the four years,” Turner said. “I haven’t sent anyone to the hospital with COVID-19 at least for the last two years now.”
Gonzales said if someone is hesitant to get vaccinated, they should speak to their doctor to get more educated on what the right choice is for them. Most local pharmacies carry the COVID-19 vaccines and most health insurance plans will cover the cost of the vaccination, according to Doss.
Gonzales said people should still get tested for COVID-19 if they feel sick and take risk assessments before going out in large groups, including wearing masks when necessary.
For more information on what people should do if they feel sick, visit the CDC’s website.
