At a time when it is difficult enough to afford tp pay for enough groceries to provide decent meals or unable to a full tank of overpriced gas to provide transportation to and from work, too many people forget that a powerful epidemic still has this nation and the world under its virus=infected thumb.
Think you are safe from COVID-19? Are you fully vaccinated? That means two shorts and two boosters. While 67% of Americans have the two original shots, that percentage drops to 48 for those with one of the two recommended booster shots and 32% of those of us over 50 who have the first two shots and both boosters.
Even with the full set of shots, any of us can come down with the Coronavirus. It happened to my wife Amy and me in May. Same for a married couple who, like we are, in their 70s with all shots, who tested positive earlier this week.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says most of the 126,000 new cases of the virus confirmed each day occur in those with all the shots, but only a tiny percentage of them are among the 6,340 hospitalized daily or the 364 who die.
“Right now we have boosters that are very effective in diminishing any aspect of the infection,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, told KNX News in Los Angeles this week. “A virus like BA.5, which is the most prevalent circulating virus, is so transmissible that it often breaks through the protection of vaccine. But the vaccines and the boosters still do a very good job at preventing you from progressing to severe disease.”
“It is about you as an individual, but it’s also about the communal responsibility to get this outbreak under control,” Dr, Fauci adds. “If they don’t get vaccinated or they don’t get boosted, they’re going to get into trouble.”
The Washington Post, which continues to cover the virus and its numbers daily, reports:
BA.5, which has been called “the worst version of the virus,” accounts for more than 85 percent of cases of covid-19, with more than 41 percent of U.S. counties experiencing a high covid-19 community level, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some health experts have expressed concern that not enough people are vaccinated, particularly as the nation has fallen away from restrictions and mandates, such as masking, to help control the spread of the disease.
–The Washington Post
President Biden, who had all shots and the best medical care in the nation, came down with COVID two weeks ago, with mild symptoms, then tested negative before testing positive again this past weekend.
A new vaccine, aimed at targeting the new variant, is expected to be available as early as next month. It will help, Dr. Fauci says, but only if everyone catches up on their vaccinations and keeps things that way.
“You don’t want covid to dominate the lives of people in this country or throughout the world, but you don’t want to, by wishing it’s behind us and it’s in the rearview mirror, not do things that would be prudent,” Fauci said.
Until that day comes, Fauci and others say masks should be worn as often as possible out in crowds where others may not be taking proper precautions or who are not fully vaccinated including booster shots.
In today’s toxic environments, safety precautions should be first on the list.