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COVID circumstances are up — however that does not imply what it used to imply. Specialists clarify learn how to navigate this summer season’s uptick and what to anticipate this fall.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It’s a truth. COVID circumstances are up once more. The CDC is describing it as an uptick after a protracted interval of declining charges. There’s additionally a brand new omicron variant on the rise. So how can we make sense of what’s going on on this fourth summer season of residing with COVID? NPR’s Pien Huang is right here to elucidate. Hey, Pien.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hello. I am depressed to even be speaking about this. How are we speaking about this? It seems like this isn’t a wave essentially. What are you calling it?
HUANG: Yeah. I imply, it is – I am in the identical boat as you. It isn’t a wave, however I am calling it extra of a summer season swell. And it is displaying up within the nationwide information from wastewater surveillance, which – the place you’ll be able to see that the virus ranges have been going up up to now month in each area. This is how Dr. Celine Gounder put it. She’s an infectious illness specialist and a senior fellow at KFF.
CELINE GOUNDER: Yeah. This isn’t actually a surge, and so it is not dismissing that COVID is a risk. It is that it’s important to know when to sound the alarms and when to not.
HUANG: So by the CDC numbers this week, there’s been a 12.5% enhance in individuals getting hospitalized with COVID. However well being specialists do stress that that also signifies that hospitalizations are close to an all-time low. So Gounder says that that is undoubtedly one thing to observe, nevertheless it’s not one thing to panic over. Whereas the dangers are extra severe for some, there are instruments which can be accessible to assist.
KELLY: The dangers are extra severe for some. Who needs to be extra involved now?
HUANG: Yeah. Yeah. So there are some those who have an actual elevated danger of hospitalization and dying, even when they have been vaccinated. So this contains the aged, people who find themselves immunocompromised, individuals who stay in nursing properties, people who find themselves pregnant, infants. And now as circumstances are going up, they may wish to take into consideration doing issues that may mitigate the dangers, like avoiding crowds, possibly sporting a masks once they’re grocery purchasing or touring, utilizing air filters in rooms, spending extra time outdoors if they are going to hang around with individuals. And, in fact, you recognize, the individuals who stay with them, go to them, spend time with them – they may additionally wish to be taking precautions, too.
KELLY: And this new variant we talked about – what can we learn about it?
HUANG: So the brand new variant that persons are speaking about now is known as EG.5. It is a subvariant of omicron. So meaning it is nonetheless actually carefully associated to what’s been circulating since early 2022, and it is grow to be extra dominant over the previous few months. So proper now it is estimated to be accountable in 17% of circumstances. This is how Dr. Mandy Cohen, head of the CDC, talked concerning the variants this week. She spoke on the podcast “In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt.”
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “IN THE BUBBLE WITH ANDY SLAVITT”)
MANDY COHEN: They’re nonetheless inclined to our vaccines. They’re nonetheless inclined to our medicines. They’re nonetheless picked up by the checks. So all of our instruments nonetheless work because the virus modifications. However we’ll need to maintain watching it.
KELLY: Pien, talking of the vaccine, ought to all of us go get a shot now to shore up safety?
HUANG: Effectively, the overall recommendation from specialists proper now’s that when you can, it will make sense to carry off for one more month or two. In order that’s as a result of the booster that is accessible presently is definitely an outdated formulation from final yr. There is a new model of the COVID vaccine coming this fall in late September, early October, and that is the one which targets newer variants.
KELLY: So simply briefly, it seems like we could wish to maintain off.
HUANG: Yeah, precisely. I imply, we anticipate that there is going to be an precise surge within the colder months. So when you wait to get the up to date booster this fall, you are going to be higher protected heading into the vacation season.
KELLY: NPR’s Pien Huang. Thanks.
HUANG: You are welcome.
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