The coronavirus wants you to realize that it hasn’t gone away. And right now, the virus is making sure that Americans don’t completely consign it to the past.
In recent weeks, there have been signs of a slowly building COVID-19 mini-wave, driven by new Omicron subvariants. Many public health authorities have stopped reporting daily (or even weekly) coronavirus statistics, making it difficult to know the size of the current surge. Still, both hospitalizations and deaths are increasing.
To be clear, no one thinks the country is approaching anything like the devastating Delta and Omikron waves of the earlier stages of the pandemic. Virtually everyone in the United States now has some immunity to the virus, either through infection, vaccination, or a combination of both.
Anecdotally, however, the stories of sick relatives and neighbors, canceled parties and postponed trips suggest that the virus is making a comeback. For some, infection may be no more than an inconvenience, but for the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, and for those who simply can’t take multiple days off work, the coronavirus remains a very real threat.
Yahoo News spoke with Dr. Nirav Shah, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the best way to think about the coronavirus in the fall of 2023.
Before joining the CDC at its Atlanta headquarters earlier this year, he was director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, where he led the state’s response to the pandemic.
Read more on Yahoo Life: New poll shows 15% of Americans have had COVID 2 or 3 times. How harmful are repeated infections?
Yahoo News: Is This a Good Time to Get the Booster?
Doctor Nirav Shah: Now is a good time. I spent a good portion of the weekend helping my mom, aunts and uncles, cousin, cousins’ kids, my in-laws, help them find appointments and plan for their COVID booster this week.
I know there are people who always try to time it. It’s a bit like playing the market. I think it’s much more important that you get the COVID booster than when you get it. So if your internal clock tells you to wait two weeks, fine, wait two weeks. I think it’s just important that you get it.
The latest vaccine will still be effective against both variants currently circulating, EG.5 and this latest variant BA.2.86.
Read more on Yahoo News: What you need to know about COVID-19 variant BA.2.86of Prevention
Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite topic: masking.
What I’m focused on is making room for people who want to wear a mask. That’s their choice. And I think we need to collectively respect that choice. You just don’t know why someone is wearing a mask. You don’t know if they were exposed five days ago and are following CDC guidelines. You don’t know if they had a kidney transplant, you don’t know if they’re taking care of a mother with cancer.
No. 2, there has been some internet hoax-type reporting that the CDC was planning to reimpose mandates. That, again, is a hoax. There is no truth to any of that. Masking remains, fundamentally, an individual choice.
Read more on Yahoo Life: New poll finds only 12% of Americans typically wear a mask in public
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been a particularly vocal critic of vaccines and masks. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s Surgeon General, has told people not to get the booster. Can you comment on that?
When people have questions about the safety or effectiveness of vaccines, we want to be a trusted source for answers. However, we disagree with Dr. Ladapo on this point.
One argument is that the vaccines are simply not effective, especially in younger people. The data does not support that.
The other thing that skeptics talk about is the risks. And they usually point to one specific risk, an inflammation called myocarditis. And that was a concern before, when you were giving two doses. Now that we’ve gone to just one dose, we’ve found that myocarditis rates are really rare. But we’re still keeping our eyes open, to be clear.
Read more on Yahoo News: Florida Surgeon General Misleads Public – Againfrom Miami Herald
