WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Encouraging trends in COVID-19 numbers are emerging from just about every corner of the country, including right here in Kansas. But what exactly does it mean, and should we still be cautious?
"Even though it's cold outside, I think we should get a little bit of warmth understanding that the overall cases have continued to decrease," said Dr. Dana Hawkinson with the KU Health System.
The week started with a big breath of relief Monday when Dr. Hawkinson announced that the COVID-19 case rate in Kansas is plummeting.
"The overall hospitalizations have continued to decrease, and recently, nationally, we also saw a slight decrease in the rate of death as well," said Hawkinson.
Every COVID-19 data chart you can find right now looks the same – from nationwide cases, to Kansas, and even right here in Sedgwick County.
"You know, more people are hopefully having immunity now, so you would hope that we wouldn't see the big surges like Omicron caused, but this virus has fooled us before, so we just have to see," said Sedgwick County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns.
Minns said while he still wishes vaccine rates were higher, natural immunity is also playing a role since so many people got COVID during the surge.
"You would think that we're getting up 70-75% of people probably have either had the vaccine or gotten infected. So you would hope that the number of people who are susceptible is going down," said Minns.
But Minns said it's no time to let our guard down just yet. We still don't know if natural immunity offers as strong of protection as the vaccine, and as long as there are still vulnerable hosts, new mutations will inevitably end up making their way to Kansas.
"The unfortunate thing is, however, in countries that don't have high vaccination rates, the virus is spreading rapidly, and it's mutating there," said Minns.
At any rate, Minns says the news is still encouraging, and like many of us, he's feeling cautiously optimistic.
"As we get a higher number of people who are immune, I don't think we're going to see the hospital rates jump up like they did. At least, I got my fingers crossed that it won't happen," said Minns.
The CDC says even if you've already had COVID-19, getting the vaccine after you recover is safe and provides even greater protection to your immune system, and Dr. Minns says that we can use all the help we can get.