If it seems as if more people are testing positive for COVID-19 recent weeks, it’s because there are more people testing positive.
While the government dialed back its response since the end of the public health emergency in May, with masks coming off and people gathering more, it was expected.
But how serious is the trend?
According to public health experts, nearly all Americans have some immunity against COVID, whether from vaccines or having had it.
Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and dean of the Yale School of Public Health, says that fact, along with better treatments for it, it is less risky to catch Covid-19 than it used to be. She says, though, there are still good reasons not to treat it casually. As she puts it, “Covid is still more dangerous than the flu, but its level of danger is becoming less.”
The pandemic experience has changed behavior, with less shaking of hands, and more washing of them. And wearing a mask or avoiding crowds have helped ward off not only COVID but also the flu in the last few years.
The CDC says a new booster aimed at the newest variants of the COVID virus, is expected to be rolled out next month.
So those whose immune system is weakened and anyone who is just worried about getting COVID or getting it again will be able to get a boost against the virus.
None of this means COVID-19 will be going away any time soon, but we do now know a lot more about it than we did when it all began.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images