{"id":57646,"date":"2023-05-02T10:28:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T17:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=57646"},"modified":"2023-05-02T10:28:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T17:28:38","slug":"are-we-out-of-the-woods-with-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=57646","title":{"rendered":"Are We Out of the Woods With COVID?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/peter-white\/\">Peter White<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_67 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_67\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2023-05-02T09:52:39-07:00\">May 2, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_68 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Omicron variants are killing 200-300 people a day but population immunity in the U.S. is higher and more stable than a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_69 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb td-animation-stack-type0-2\" title=\"covid-19\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/covid-19-1068x712.jpg 1068w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_70 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_70\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco says the number of new COVID-19 cases is decreasing, wastewater infectiousness is relatively low and hospitalizations are going down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state of COVID, at least as far as I can tell, feels reasonably mild compared to what we\u2019ve seen in the past 3 years, and remarkably stable,\u201d says Dr. Robert Wachter.<\/p>\n<p>Wachter briefed reporters on an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/media-briefings\/covid-19-it-aint-over-yet-folks\/\">Ethnic Media Services conference call<\/a>\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n<p>He said the biggest surprise about new variants driving the pandemic in the last 18 months has been the relative lack of surprises.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are still on the same Greek letter that we were since December 2020,\u201d Wachter said, referring to the Omicron variant whose name derives from the Greek alphabet.<\/p>\n<p>Since March, the World Health Organization has been monitoring the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, aka \u201cArcturus.\u201d The variant has a higher transmissibility than previous ones but doesn\u2019t appear to be more dangerous. The new strain accounts for about 10% of COVID-19 cases worldwide. People who get it tend to have a fever and some get pink eye. Both symptoms don\u2019t last very long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last year or so really feels like new variants are a little scary and then they turn out not to be that big a deal. And so I think, if past is prologue, that\u2019s likely to be what happens with this newest variant,\u201d Wachter says.<\/p>\n<h2>Staying safe even as COVID-19 restrictions fade<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" title=\"The Current Covid Risk\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Wva3Mf-GnXY?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-11=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Dr. William Schaffner, Professor and Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says that while Covid can still be deadly, the risk of severe infection has diminished.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dr. William Schaffner, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center still wears a mask in crowded places, as does Wachter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of our population have experienced COVID. Many people have been vaccinated, and of course many people have experienced both, and so our level of protection is very high, and these Omicron variants seem to be spreading, producing milder disease,\u201d Schaffner says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe therapies, the testing, the treatments that we\u2019ve gotten used to all work about as well as they have for the last 18 months. In some ways the biggest changes are political and sociological. It\u2019s clear that any rules and restrictions are pretty much gone,\u201d Wachter says.<\/p>\n<p>Americans have largely stopped wearing masks or hung them on their car mirrors just in case they may need them.<\/p>\n<p>Schaffner says we need to keep our guard up. Older and immunocompromised people, as well as the unvaccinated, are the COVID patients who end up in the hospital. Vulnerable people need to get vaccinated, boosted, and wear masks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt turns out that the quality of the mask and the fit is important,\u201d says Schaffner. The N-95 mask fits securely around your nose and chin. In the early days of the pandemic they were hard to find and controversy about wearing masks created a lot of confusion. Masks are no longer mandated except in hospitals and other places where the risk of infection remains high and it remains high for certain people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe other early mantra \u2013 that it\u2019s really about protecting others and not you \u2013 it\u2019s also wrong. It is about protecting others, but it certainly protects you, too.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s probabilistic. It lowers the chance of getting infected,\u201d Schaffner says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re not masking\u2026 I would say condoms prevent babies, masks prevent infectious disease. You\u2019ll hear a lot of arguments about wearing both of them. But that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t work,\u201d says Dr. Ben Neuman, Chief Virologist of the Global Health Research Complex at Texas A&amp;M University.<\/p>\n<h2>Arcturus variant likely not a game changer<\/h2>\n<p>Neuman said the Arcturus variant is different enough from the current vaccine strains that it has the potential to evade them because \u201cit\u2019s about as different from Omicron as Omicron was different from Delta and so just like we saw the Omicron wave come through, there is at least the potential for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wachter doesn\u2019t think the new variant will be a game-changer though. For one thing, enough people have immunity now so the possibility of a super-spreader event is unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vaccine and the booster still work reasonably well in about the same way that we have thought for the last 18 months or so.\u201d Paxil still works reasonably well, your home test still works reasonably well, Wachter says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe risk of getting very sick is probably not any different now than it will be in 3 years\u2026 so we all have to come up with strategies that allow us to live our lives as fully as we can while mitigating the risks in a way that\u2019s practical and sustainable. And that\u2019s different than two years ago, when we were all trying to get through it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Wachter and Schaffner told reporters that they get boosted regularly. They are waiting for new vaccines that will be available in a few months for flu, COVID-19, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus\u00a0(RSV).<\/p>\n<h2>Long COVID<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"What We Know and Don't Know About Long Covid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1vI4pwnvCKM?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-11=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Dr. Robert Wachter, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, discusses what medical professionals and researchers have learned about long covid and what they\u2019re still working to understand.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For people who get re-infected, the danger of long COVID increases, especially for women. Wachter\u2019s wife, a former reporter who now writes books, has long COVID and she is learning to live with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA year ago she was not disabled in any way in terms of getting through her days.\u00a0 Certainly, many people have it worse than she does,\u201d Wachter says. \u201cBut most days at about one or two in the afternoon, she will text me and say I\u2019m hitting a wall. I need to take a nap. She never had to do that before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A little bit of brain fog is making her \u201ca little less good than she was\u201d but it\u2019s a consolation to know what\u2019s causing it, he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ByPeter White May 2, 2023 Omicron&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57647,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57646\/revisions\/57647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}