New London ― While the number of COVID-19 cases has been rising across much of the country, New London County has seen no recent surge in the coronavirus disease, according to local experts.

It’s still out there, they say, but it’s not nearly as prevalent as it once was, and those cases that do come to light tend to be relatively mild.

“It never went away,” said Dr. Oliver Mayorga, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s chief medical officer, who reported Thursday that there were six patients at the hospital who had tested positive for COVID-19. The patients had not been admitted because they had the disease, but had come to the hospital for some other reason and had then tested positive, he said.

L+M, which used to test everyone who came to the hospital, now tests only those who exhibit symptoms consistent with the disease.

“So if you came in with appendicitis, for example, and had no symptoms related to COVID, we wouldn’t necessarily test you,” Mayorga said. “But if you had a cough, headache, we’d test you.”

None of the six COVID-19 patients at L+M is in the critical care unit and none needs to be on a ventilator. All of them are in their 70s or 80s and/or have a compromised immune system, characteristics associated with the vast majority of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic’s darkest days.

Jennifer Muggeo, Ledge Light Health District’s director of health, said it’s likely the number of COVID-19 cases in southeastern Connecticut will increase this fall and winter.

“It’s hard to say how many cases there are because most cases are identified by home testing and never get reported,” she said. “The indication is that we’re heading into an uptick, if we’re not there already. It’s a reminder that COVID is still out there and some people are going to become ill.”

Muggeo said people should still take certain precautions to ward off the disease or at least minimize its impact. They should stay home if they’re not feeling well, avoid others in their household and consider “masking up” when around others in close quarters and crowds, she said.

Regarding vaccinations, she noted health care providers are awaiting the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an updated vaccine booster is considered imminent.

“If you never got vaccinated, it’s not too late,” Muggeo said. “Vaccine is available. We don’t have any right now, but we will soon. If we don’t have it, we can help you find it. Give us a call.”

She said people who do contract the virus and have mild to moderate symptoms should contact their provider, who may prescribe Paxlovid, a medicine that can be effective in reducing the severity of symptoms and the likelihood of getting long COVID, a condition in which symptoms persist.

Asked to reflect on the U.S. response to COVID-19, Mayorga said it was his opinion that the early and prolonged shutdown of schools during the pandemic “probably did more harm than good … when you look at the mental state of youngsters and the amount of learning set back.”

He said the medical community gained a much better understanding of how viruses work and about the effectiveness of masks in limiting the spread of disease.

“We should have made less grandiose statements about how much protection they offered,” Mayorga said of masks.

He also said the public has acquired a more nuanced understanding of respiratory viruses and vaccines, which will benefit both patients and providers in the future.

“Gaining the trust of the public is done one person at a time. I think we learned that,” Mayorga said. “I think the public trusts us more in places like this than in big cities.”

b.hallenbeck@theday.com