Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Wednesday, December 11th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here, and we're welcoming into on the phone lines actually here today.
Our good friend, Kaylee Mangle, she is with the public health policy and communication coordinator with our Wood County Health Department.
Kaylee, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me, James. I'm really happy to be on today.
Always appreciate whenever we get to hang out with the Wood County Health Department.
We send a big shout out to you and the team over there.
We greatly appreciate you, Kaylee, so much, especially this time of year.
Thank you so much.
I'd like to think we do every day, especially with recent events over the last handful of years and everything.
But, man, in cold and flu season, boy, do we appreciate you guys.
We try our best to protect the public and educate people or I should say advocate for people.
Yeah, and let's get into that today, Kaylee, because that's where our focus is going to be is helping keep our community healthy during cold and flu season.
Yeah, so as many people know, winter brings viruses like the cold, flu, and COVID-19.
And that's because when people are cold or cold outside, people are indoors more often.
So this allows the virus to pass more easily from one person to another.
And also the cold dry air can slow down the immune system and that leads to more people getting sick.
So I thought it would be a really good time today to just talk more about what people can look for if they are sick and then also how they can stay healthy.
And given especially recent news, we've had an uptick in some of these things in Wood County, Kaylee.
Yes, we have. So right now there is an uptick in pertusses or most people know it by whooping cough.
And that's in with county, but also across the state.
So today, as of today, we have 71 confirmed cases of whooping cough this year in Wood County.
And there have been more than 2,100 confirmed cases statewide.
This is notable because in 2023, Wood County only saw one case of pertusses.
So we are really trying to get the word out to prevent the spread of illness.
Appreciate that, Kaylee.
And that's go off script here too much or anything.
But is there, is there any rhyme or reason behind this that we know yet?
I feel like I'm asking that question a year early.
We usually are able to figure these things out a little bit better when we have more data and not in real time.
But is there anything that's standing out regarding this?
Yeah, that's a really great question.
So it's pertusses is cyclical, which means that it peaks every three to five years.
So this is on point with it peaking this year.
But also researchers believe that the pandemic might have also impacted the current situation.
Along with waning population immunity.
So what does that mean?
It's basically there's been a decline in childhood vaccines or people getting the vaccine.
So that also plays a role.
So all great points and great notes for us to keep in mind with our community.
And when we're interacting with each other, I appreciate that, Kaylee.
When it comes to symptoms for people that may not be familiar with those,
can we get in the kind of symptoms to be aware of?
Yep, so it's very similar to the common cold, which can be difficult to differentiate.
However, with the pertusses, I would say the most notable symptom is more severe cough.
And something that happens is it can progress into like coughing spells or explosive coughing,
which can interrupt breathing, eating, and sleeping.
But otherwise like the typical symptoms would be runny nose, sore throat, sneezing,
a low grade fever.
And then something that happens if you do end up having that explosive cough or you gain those coughing spells,
you might make a loud crowing or whooping sound as you struggle to inhale the air,
which is where that name whooping cough came from.
And then this can also lead to gigging or vomiting.
And all important notes.
And it's so, I don't know, I don't want to speak on this like I know what I'm talking about,
how Kaylee affects you do.
But it does seem like it's important to be able to know the differences of a whooping cough
and your common cold or COVID or so many of these things.
Yeah, it really does because some of these viruses or bacterial infections don't need either
do or don't need antibiotics.
So, and that's something I can touch on a little bit later.
But pertosis does need antibiotics to be treated, whereas the cold, flu, and COVID don't.
And we don't want antibiotic resistance to happen.
So we don't want you to take antibiotics if you don't need them.
But it can help you just differentiate between the different viruses too so that if you
need to go to the doctor, you know, you can get treated properly as well.
And I had to say something and speak directly to the audience about that.
I mean, my father, no, I'm kidding, but my dad is in a group of people that I know and
many of us know out there that believe, well, I'm just going to tough it out.
I'm just going to tough it out.
I can handle this.
I've had cold before.
I've had something like this before and I can barrel through it.
And I'm not questioning your toughness.
I'm not at all.
In fact, I think you might be right to a degree.
However, you are not alone and you are going to possibly affect other people and other
people with other immune systems that may not be as strong as yours.
So no matter how tough you think you are, feel your immune system is.
Encourage you to do what you need to to take care of these things.
If not for yourself or your loved ones, for your co-workers, for the people that you
are out and about with.
Yeah.
I'm really glad you mentioned that because that's one of the biggest things that I would
like people to take with them is no matter what illness you might have, the most important
thing is to stay home, stay away from people if you are sick, if you can.
I know that's not always possible.
If you, for some reason, can't stay home or you're around other people, please wear a mask.
They really do work.
And so we really want people to try, even if you might have a mild illness or you might
have a better immune system than someone else.
You know, someone next to you could be unlucky and they might not have a good immune system
and so they're impacted more severely.
So that's one of the biggest things I would say to remember is to stay home if you're
sick.
Yeah.
It goes so it's one of the great ways that you can help out your community, help out strangers
helping strangers.
It's something as a phrase I like to touch on when I can.
And I can't speak for anybody else, but for me, I need to get in all the good deeds
I can.
This is a good deed.
And then now get it in right before Santa puts that list together and everything.
It's going to work out great for you.
So look out for each other, everybody, and keep in these things in mind, especially because
letting these things persist and continue on can just involve even more complications.
Can we get into that a little bit of some of the complications from this Kayla?
Yeah.
So for complications for whooping cough, it can include dehydration, difficulty sleeping,
severe infection, pneumonia, and seizures.
And this is really affecting infants younger than 12 months of age who are unvaccinated
or completely vaccinated like they might have only received one dose and pertuss as you're
supposed to receive multiple doses.
So they have the highest risk of severe complications and deaths, unfortunately.
And about a third need treatment in a hospital for that age group as well.
And that age group is just one of those ones where it's on us in the, you know, the
little bit of, in above that age group to be able to help out and do our job as adults
and looking out for kids.
Yeah.
It really is.
And I would say, you know, as I'm a parent myself and so I would say, you know, please don't
kiss or touch another person's child.
I know grandparents love to do that and, you know, aunties and uncles and such, but please
ask the parent first if they are okay with you giving, you know, their granddaughter or
whatever, you know, whoever it is, a kiss on the cheek because that does, you know, spread
illness.
More easily, but also wash your hands before holding them and, you know, that kind of
a thing too really goes a long way.
And to our senior population out there that can be just as vulnerable to these things,
almost a similar story, you know, as far as interacting with each other or when you're
interacting in public.
Yeah.
It is definitely a similar story, you know, older, older age groups can also have, you
know, severe complications.
And we are seeing it in people, especially if they're not vaccinated.
So vaccination really is key to preventing more of those severe complications.
But like you're saying, you know, if you, if you're going over to, you know, your grandparents
house or whoever it may be in that population, try your best to not go if you're sick and
you can wear a mask, even just to be preventative.
Of course, you know, washing your hands, those kinds of things to help prevent, prevent them
from getting sick too.
And are there other things that people can do that we've mentioned a vaccine, antibiotics
and some of that?
If you, if you feel you have a whooping cough or some of the things that we've talked
about here, is there any other things that you can do while you, when you have it to,
to kind of help progress and get through it as fast as possible?
Yeah, definitely go to the doctor to get those antibiotics and also just to get checked
out.
But if you do have pertussis, you do need to isolate or stay at home until you've finished
five days of antibiotic treatment.
And then also I just wanted to mention that some people who are exposed to someone with
pertussis might also need to take antibiotics to prevent illness.
So if you've been exposed also go to your doctor and talk to them about that.
And then, like I said, you know, get the vaccine.
There is pertussis vaccine and it, so it does start at two months of age.
But if you did not get a vaccine, you're an adult listening to this today.
You can still get the pertussis vaccine as an adult and even if you're pregnant too.
We're speaking with Kayla of public health policy and communication coordinator with
our Wood County Health Department.
And Kayla, as far as figuring out if you have this or what specifically you do have, is
there a way for people to do that is figuring out, well, is this whooping cough, is this
a cold, you know, figuring out what it is exactly?
Yeah, there's really great resources out there, like visuals that have different charts
that tell you what symptoms are for each virus.
I'm looking at a chart right now and it might be kind of difficult to go through it all,
but I can try to tell listeners what to look for.
However, I would recommend going to either our health department website and I'll share
that later or you can go to the CDC.
Hopefully, James, maybe we could share some of these resources on your website as well.
Mm-hmm, definitely.
Yeah, definitely.
Awesome.
Check out WFHR's website too and we'll have this chart on there for you, but for, I would
say for pertussis and cold, you know, those symptoms really do, really are similar.
However, with a cold, people typically get a sore throat and with pertussis, you don't.
And then also with pertussis, you get those coughing attacks.
For flu and COVID, they're very similar and sometimes it's hard to differentiate because
with COVID, you don't always get all the symptoms.
But those symptoms are fever and chills, headache, muscle pain or body aches, feeling tired
or weak, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
vomiting and diarrhea.
And then for COVID, also the change in or loss of taste or smell.
So that's the most notable difference is that that's sent in the loss of taste or smell,
but not everybody who gets COVID has that.
So that's where I would say, you know, get a COVID test.
Mm-hmm.
It's, you know, you're better off knowing for us all the reasons we've said and also
just for your own mental health.
It's good to know these things and understand.
So you can, not only take care of these things and get yourself healthy and ready for the
winter season and also know that you're not infecting or hurting anybody else.
Yeah.
And, you know, that's a good point.
And also because with COVID, some people don't get any symptoms at all.
So, you know, especially with holidays coming up and family gatherings, I would recommend
to take a test before you gather, you know, a few days before you gather, not a few days,
but even like a day or two before you gather.
And then we do have free COVID tests available throughout Wood County.
So there's some available in Wisconsin Rapids at Midstate Technical College and Wood County
Health Department.
And then in Marshfield, there's some at St. Vincent de Paul and Family Health Center.
And you can also order them online.
They ship free.
They are free and they ship free to your home.
So that's that COVID test.gov.
And I'll also share that resource for the WFHR website as well.
Thank you, Kayla.
I appreciate it.
And as we're getting rid of the wrap up here, we want to keep you healthy, everybody.
We want to help you, even hopefully avoid these things.
Let's talk about what people can do to stay healthy this time of year.
Yeah.
So I know some of these things people might take for granted or, you know, you do them
and then you kind of think, oh, I already do all these things.
But maybe, like I know personally, sometimes I realize that maybe I actually didn't do
the things I thought I did, right?
So for example, with washing your hands, use soap and warm water.
I always wash my hands after the bathroom.
I hope everybody else does.
But sometimes I forget to wash my hands before I eat or after I eat.
And that's a really key time to wash your hands because you're, you know, you're touching
your mouth.
Maybe licking your fingers or spreading, you know, you can spread germs that way when
you're eating.
So not only to other people, but if you don't wash your hands before you eat, you're
spreading germs from things that you've touched to yourself as well.
So that's a big one.
And then, of the way touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands, cover your
coffin's knees with a tissue or inside of your elbow, drink at least eight glasses of
water a day.
It's really important to keep hydrated.
And then, sleep is so vital to our health.
It's beneficial in many ways, but for your immune system, especially aim for seven to
nine hours of sleep at night, eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, main proteins and whole grains.
We really want to cut out the processed junk food and sugar.
And that's just in general for your health as well.
You know, I try to tell people to shop the outer isles of the grocery store.
So you really, there's, you know, other than maybe some fiber foods with fiber in it,
you should really be focusing on the outer isles where it's veggies, fruit, meat, your dairy,
you know, those things.
And then eating foods rich in vitamin C and zinc are really great.
So like, you know, oranges, citrus fruits, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, those
kinds of things.
And then for zinc, beef, cashews, eggs, yogurt, beans, avocados, all those healthy, healthy
foods to help with your immune system.
You can exercise regularly, that's a really good one, and do things that you enjoy.
So if you want to dance or snow, shoe, or ski, you know, during the winter time, I personally
love to walk.
And for a while there, it was hard for me to walk because I had my daughter a couple
of years ago.
And so I just started off by walking to my mailbox every day, really simple.
But that motivated me not to after a while to walk further and further.
And now I walk for like 30 minutes a day, at least, sometimes I try to do more.
Good idea.
The little things like that can really add up.
I appreciate you sharing that.
You know, my daughter is, I'm just going to pop any day now.
She's going to have, and I'm bringing that up because I'm a proud papa.
But also, she's been nervous about that, worried about that.
And I know there's many out there that are concerned with those things.
I appreciate you sharing that, Kayla.
And good on you for doing it.
I'm very excited.
By the way, that's super exciting.
Thank you.
You guys are very excited.
Yeah.
Disinfecting things is also one of the things that I think this is such a great list,
in part because I think so many of these things we do mean well and do mean to keep up on.
But it's nice to have the reminder of.
And I think disinfecting things this time of year is one of those big ones we forget.
It is.
And something, it is something that can take only a minute or two to do.
You know, if you have Clorox wipes at home, just take one of those and then wipe everything
down.
That is, you know, high frequency areas that are touched.
Otherwise, if you don't have those kinds of cleaning tools, you can just use like a soap
and a rag.
I mean, it's better than nothing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we encourage you also, as Kayla touched on earlier, if you feel you're sick or even
feel these symptoms coming on, it's probably best to stay home.
Yes.
That is truly the most important thing to remember today is just stay home if you can.
I know what I do understand it's not possible for everybody, right, not every employer is
able to or understanding of it.
And so that's where I would say we're a mask if you can.
And of course, while these tips are very helpful of keeping you healthy at this time of year,
these are also helpful long-term-wise.
They really have a long-term impact on other things and risking the risk of other things.
Yes.
They really do.
They can prevent the risk of stroke, heart disease or heart attack, diabetes.
They can help you lose weight if you need to lose weight and just really can help keep
you healthy overall.
And it's wrapping up.
Do you want to remind everybody that there are tests available every month?
There are free COVID tests available all the time, Kayla.
Yes.
Free COVID tests available all the time right now.
And then again, that's on covidtest.gov or you can get them at different locations in
Wood County.
Yes.
Keep that in mind.
You can find that at covidtest.gov, covidtest.gov, that email website address that she gave us
earlier.
And then there's a vaccine clinic every month also.
Yes.
We currently offer a vaccine clinic the third Wednesday of every month at the Wood County
Health Department in Wisconsin, Rapid.
The next one is December 18th.
And this is for people, for children who qualify for the vaccine for children's program.
And then also there's a small stack of vaccine that we have for adults who are uninsured
or undersured.
If you're confused about whether or not you qualify, just give us a call.
Yes.
Reach out to the health department for all the, any questions you have.
And as we're closing, do you want to give that information out there, help people
looking in and touch with you, Kayla.
Yes.
So you can call us at 715-421-8911.
And then if you want, you can also go to our website to learn more.
So that's at www.woodcountywi.gov or GOV.
And then you can just find Health Department under the Departments tab.
Really cannot thank you enough for the time, Kayla, and the focus that you put on such
an important thing today.
Thank you for that.
Big thank you to you and the team over there at the Wood County Health Department.
Please say hi to everybody over there for us.
And you guys, I wish you guys a great set of holidays.
I certainly will.
And you are welcome.
I really had a lot of fun talking to you today.
Thank you for having me on, James.
Take care.
And we'll talk soon.
Thanks again, Kayla.
Thank you.
Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you.
Happy holidays to all of you out there.
Thank you so much for joining us for another Mint Day magazine.
We've got more coming up like on tomorrow's show when we'll be welcoming in part
one.
Our friends at the Wood County Parks and Forestry Department will be with us.
And in part two, we're going to hang out with you W Extensions.
Janelle Weir.
That's going to be a blast.
We're looking forward to it.
It's all coming up right here on 97.5 FM 1320 AM WFHR, locally grown radio.
