Many local news media last week reported that COVID-19 is back, citing doctors’ observations and the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) statistics.
The CDC said that cases would peak this month and urged people to take preventive measures.
Although COVID-19 has never been eliminated, it has become more manageable, and restrictions were dropped, enabling people to return to their normal way of life due to decreasing hospitalizations and deaths.
In Taiwan, mandatory reporting of confirmed cases and home isolation ended in March last year, while the mask mandate at hospitals and healthcare facilities stopped in May.
However, the CDC last week said the number of hospitalized cases has been increasing for five consecutive weeks, with the weekly number from late May to late last month having more than tripled from 241 to 817.
CDC Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) on Thursday last week said the number of weekly hospitalizations exceeded this year’s previous wave and could peak this month, with more than 1,000 hospitalized cases and 100,000 mild infections expected each week.
Several doctors have shared their clinical observations on social media, including pulmonologist He Chien-hui (何建輝), who said that about half of their patients hospitalized for pneumonia had tested positive for COVID-19.
Another pulmonologist, Su Yi-feng (蘇一峰), said that the number of COVID-19 cases increased by two to three times in a month.
Ear, nose and throat doctor Huang Chao-hsun (黃昭勳) has said that one morning, 10 of the 49 patients he examined had a fever and some of them tested positive for flu or COVID-19.
Some experts have said that the COVID-19 wave is caused by a few factors, including new variants, such as JN.1, KP.2 and KP.3, which are more infectious, and the low up-to-date vaccination rate (about 11.47 percent).
They also said that protection from early vaccines has waned and fewer people are taking preventive measures, as they are tired of being cautious.
Making the situation worse, amid a continuing enterovirus epidemic, the CDC declared a flu epidemic last month, marking a summer with three epidemics.
The CDC has urged people to test for COVID-19 when they have cold-like symptoms, wear a mask in crowded places and practice good personal hygiene.
Children, elderly people, people with underlying health conditions and immunocompromised people should wear a mask in public places and stay up to date on vaccines, it said.
Many people think COVID-19 is no longer a big deal, but it can be a real threat to vulnerable groups. About 80 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 90 percent of those who die are elderly people, with most having underlying health conditions.
While the Ministry of Health and Welfare said it would monitor virus activity, prepare resources, revise treatment and infection control guidelines, and promote masking, testing and vaccination, individuals can also take simple measures to help save lives.
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