{"id":6723,"date":"2024-02-19T11:33:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T17:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=6723"},"modified":"2024-02-19T11:33:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T17:33:24","slug":"covid-19-persists-in-the-rgv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/19\/covid-19-persists-in-the-rgv\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 persists in the RGV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pete Mendoza<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-1024x597.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-1024x597.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-1536x896.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-2048x1194.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo Courtesy \/ Cameron County Public Health<br>Cameron County Annex building in San Benito, Texas<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/COVID-2024-Final_mixdown-copy.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Three-thousand-forty-three COVID-19 cases were recorded in Cameron county in January 2024. That\u2019s an increase of 69% from December 2023. While the disease has not dominated headlines, it remains a concern among public health officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cameron County Public Health Preparedness Director Ashley Gomez says the increase is a result of a new COVID-19 variant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cThere is the variant that has been circulating,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cThe new \u2018JN.1\u2019 which is part of Omicron but it\u2019s a different lineage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>She says the \u2018JN.1\u2019 variant presents the same symptoms as COVID-19, however it spreads much quicker than its predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Integrated health science freshman Roosevelt Varela Castillo says he knew the variant has been going around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cMostly everyone\u2019s been getting sick lately,\u201d Varela Castillo said. \u201cI can include myself. I was feeling kind of bad like two weeks ago.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gomez said the variant can lead to other possible respiratory issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/2024\/jn1-the-dominant-variant-in-the-covid-surge\">John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health website<\/a> the JN.1 variant originated from the BA.2.86 variant. This variant already has around 30 different mutations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gomez says the increase most likely spread due to individual choices during the holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p> \u201cUsually we do see waves around the holiday season,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause people are gathering for the holidays, Christmas, New Year\u2019s, children are going back to school, people are traveling so that\u2019s usually when we see that spike of cases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gomez says the Cameron County Public Health Department tracks reports of COVID-19 cases and other types of notifiable conditions and analyzes the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She says their main targets are settings where individuals are in close proximity to each other, such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools and jails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gomez says people should keep following recommended preventative measures to protect against this disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cJust making sure that our community [knows] of course the symptoms,\u201d she said. \u201cHow to prevent the spread, staying up to date with the vaccines, and just making sure once you know that you are feeling sick or something\u2019s not feeling right to get tested whether it\u2019s for COVID-19 or any other type of respiratory disease or not disease, but illness.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about COVID-19 visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cameroncountytx.gov\/?s=covid\">cameroncountytx.gov.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is Pete Mendoza for Vaquero Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Mendoza Three-thousand-forty-three COVID-19 cases were recorded in Cameron county in January 2024. That\u2019s an increase of 69%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":6724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[606,72,111,44,42,26],"class_list":["post-6723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-606","tag-covid","tag-health","tag-news","tag-students","tag-utrgv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>COVID-19 persists in the RGV - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/19\/covid-19-persists-in-the-rgv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19 persists in the RGV - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pete Mendoza Three-thousand-forty-three COVID-19 cases were recorded in Cameron county in January 2024. 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