COVID-19 hospitalization rates have been high in eight central Illinois counties, including in Sangamon County. But taking antiviral medications soon after a positive test result can prevent the illness from getting severe.
Dr. Arti Barnes, chief medical officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said, "If you get the antivirals in time, like within five days of getting sick from COVID or starting your first symptoms, they work well. The sooner you get it, the better, the more effective it is in preventing COVID hospitalizations or deaths,” she said.
“There are two oral antivirals and one intravenous medication that can protect people from getting to the hospital or even dying from COVID," Barnes said. "The important thing… is that people know that these antivirals work against all of the current variants that we know of.''
The medications — Paxlovid, Lagevrio and remdesivir — are powerful, she said. Antivirals work by stopping the virus from replicating . “It really shuts the virus dead in its tracks and stops it from growing inside your body. And this allows your body's immune system time to just kill it and knock it out.”
Getting the medication is particularly important, she said, for people who have weakened immune systems because of issues such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
”Those people are extremely high risk and people who are older, so those, as you get over the age of 50, progressively, your risk for getting complications from COVID gets higher and higher," she said. "Of course, anyone who lives in a long term care facility and is frail because of their underlying conditions, is extremely high risk.”
The hospitalization rates would be lower if more people would be vaccinated, she said. For the original versions of the vaccines, 76 percent of people were vaccinated in Illinois, but now, she said, numbers from the Centers for Disease Control are below 20 percent.
“We’re trying to also educate our providers and try to get access to resources such as the Bridge Access Program to people so that they know where to go to get a free vaccine shot,’’ she said.
The CDC’s Bridge Access Program will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments for uninsured and underinsured adults In addition, Illinoisans who experience Covid-19 symptoms can access no cost-share telehealth services through the SIU School of Medicine Covid Test to Treat services or call (217) 545-5100.
COVID-19 is causing the most hospitalizations among respiratory viruses, however hospitalizations are also rising steadily for flu and RSV, according to the Department of Public Health.
