A new coronaviruses variant is traveling around this summer.
It's a variant of Omicron called BA.5 and it's causing a stir because it has evolved even further away than other Omicron variants did from the coronaviruses.
It used to be that you had some protection against re-infection after you got Omicron.
BA.5 is avoiding our built-up defenses. This all means that re infections are going up.
If you've already had a vaccine, a booster shot, or a recent bout of COVID-19, you're more than likely to have been exposed to BA.5.
Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, said Tuesday that if you were exposed to BA.1, you don't have a lot of good protection.
Four top public-health experts were asked to help us figure out how worried we should be.
People tell us how worried they are about new infectious-disease threats. They were given some pause by the rating.
Dr. Gounder is the editor in chief for public health at Kaiser Health News. It depends on your vaccination status, your age, your health, your occupation, and other factors.
Some people gave hard numbers but there was variation in their answers.
The infectious-disease doctor at the University of Michigan was willing to give a number. She expressed mild concern about the new variant.
If you haven't gottenBA.5 yet, the odds are pretty good, but if you are up to date on vaccines, the illness should be mild.
She said there were a lot of reasons to be hopeful, even though there was a high risk of exposure. Paxlovid is now free for all Americans.
Home testing and rapid connection to treatment for those at risk of complicated infections is manageable.
In the UK, which is at least a few weeks ahead of the US in terms of variant spread, national health-security experts have assessed that the protection offered by vaccines against BA.5 is comparable to that observed previously.
Outcomes could be bad for people who aren't up to date on shots and don't have a plan.
The US already recommends a second booster for all adults over the age of 60.
The director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that they are seeing increasing COVID-19-case notification rates and an increasing trend in hospital and intensive care unit admissions.
She said that there are still too many people at risk of severe COVID-19 infections.
Jetelina was unwilling to give a single number for the entire US. Based on where you live, she said the risk was too high.
She ranked the South a 7 out of 10 because of low rates of booster shots, low Paxlovid usage, and people going inside for the heat.
Jetelina said that people in the Northeast should be at about a 4 out of 10 level of concern due to the low number of infections in the South.
If you're boosted, wear masks when appropriate, and have a test and treatment plan in place if you get sick, most experts agree this wave should turn out okay for you.
The number is different according to who it is being applied to.
The number would be 10 if it was a fresh lung transplant. He said it would be 0 for a young person. It's not one-size-fits-all when it comes to risk.
The original article was published by Business Insider.
There is more from Business Insider.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
