Region may be experiencing third wave of coronavirus infections | INFORUM – INFORUM

Clay County Public Health administrator Kathy McKay says they were expecting this with the change of seasons.

"Some of that has to do with, of course, there's spring break in March and some other gatherings," McKay said.

Looking at North Dakota's active case numbers, the state has just over 1,100 active cases, compared to 683 in the state's first peak in May of 2020.

However, the 14-day rolling average is not as bad at roughly 4.2% now, compared to 5.6% last spring.

Dr. Rich Vetter with Essentia Health says it's safe to say we're in the third wave, but we have yet to reach its peak.

"The trend line is ticking up still; it hasn't really plateaued," Vetter said.

He says it's difficult to tell how high this third wave could get, but he does not believe it will get as bad as the record-setting second peak the state saw last fall.

The vaccine is proving to be effective against serious COVID-19 infections, so there is hope there will be fewer hospitalizations during this latest wave.

"Typically the case numbers go up first and then the hospitalizations come later," Vetter said. "We're hoping that as we've tried to vaccinate as many of those high-risk people as possible, that the people who are contracting are the younger, healthier folks who hopefully won't need hospitalization."

Still, they encourage younger and healthier people to get the shot and for everyone to take the usual pandemic precautions.

"Mask up, keep your social distance and get the vaccine when you can because this virus is not going to wait, it's still circulating," McKay said.

More:

Region may be experiencing third wave of coronavirus infections | INFORUM - INFORUM