TYLER, Texas — Just because it's summer, that doesn't mean that COVID-19 is taking a vacation.
UT Health East Texas Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Lamenteer said they are noticing a steady rise in cases. Currently, the hospital system is seeing a 20 percent rate of positivity. A month ago, that number was around 5 percent.
Lamenteer said if someone is dealing with nose drainage, body aches, chills and headaches, they should consider getting screened for COVID-19. While health professionals aren't overly concerned, they do urge folks to remember to protect themselves and their loved ones, especially the most vulnerable.
"That's why it's so important even though we're at a different time frame now as we were compared to the beginning of the pandemic when not many people had natural infection," Lamenteer said. "Most of us had COVID-19 infection at this point. Data still supports and still shows that if you've previously been vaccinated in addition to natural infection you've got the best chance of not getting severe disease."
With people returning from vacations and heading back to school, Lamenteer said he expects the cases to continue to increase.