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Re: Latest on the Corona Virus
The chief executive of Pfizer Inc. PFE, +3.94% said Sunday that COVID-19 is not going to just go away in the coming years, and that fully vaccinated people will need a fourth shot later this year. In an interview with CBS News reporter Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said people are going to have to learn to live with the virus. He said a fourth dose - a second booster - is necessary "right now."
"The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths," he said, according to a CBS News transcript. "It's not that good against infections, but doesn't last very long." The U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline, and the nation is now averaging 34,232 new cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, down 48% from two weeks ago.
The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 29,688, down 42% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 1,291 a day, down 31% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number. Globally, there have been 456.9 million confirmed cases, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, and 6.04 million deaths.
The U.S. leads the world with 79.5 million cases and 967,552 fatalities.Comment
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Re: Latest on the Corona Virus
Get Vaccinated Even If You Had COVID-19
You should get a COVID-19 vaccine even if you already had COVID-19. No currently available test can reliably determine if you are protected after being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after you recover from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 provides added protection to your immune system. People who already had COVID-19 and do not get vaccinated after their recovery are more likely to get COVID-19 again than those who get vaccinated after their recovery.
If you currently have COVID-19, you should wait to get your vaccine until your symptoms are gone (if you had symptoms) and you are done with your isolation period.
If you are not vaccinated and were exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should wait until your quarantine is over to avoid getting others sick while you get your vaccine.Comment
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Re: Latest on the Corona Virus
What rising Covid-19 infections in the UK and Europe could mean for the US
Two weeks after the United Kingdom dropped its last remaining Covid-19 mitigation measure -- a requirement that people who test positive for the virus isolate for five days -- the country is seeing cases and hospitalizations climb once again.
Covid-19 cases were up 48% in the UK last week compared with the week before. Hospitalizations were up 17% over the same period.
The country's daily case rate -- about 55,000 a day -- is still less than a third of the Omicron peak, but cases are rising as fast as they were falling just two weeks earlier, when the country removed pandemic-related restrictions.
"So we're obviously keenly interested in what's going on with that," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN.
Fauci said he's spoken with his UK counterparts, and they have pegged the rise to a combination three factors. In order of contribution, Fauci said, these are:
- The BA.2 variant, which is more transmissible than the original Omicron
- The opening of society, with people mingling more indoors without masks
- Waning immunity from vaccination or prior infection
In a technical briefing Friday, the UK Health Security Agency said BA.2 had an 80% higher relative growth rate than the original Omicron strain, though it does not seem more likely to lead to hospitalization.
The US, like the UK, has lifted most mitigation measures as Covid-19 infections have fallen. Two weeks ago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed how it measures Covid-19 impact in communities. The new metric -- which relies on hospitalizations and hospital capacity in addition to cases -- did away with masking recommendations for most parts of the country. States and schools have followed suit, lifting indoor masking requirements.
"Without a doubt, opening up society and having people mingle indoors is clearly something that is a contributor, as well as overall waning immunity, which means we've really got to stay heads-up and keep our eye on the pattern here," Fauci said. "So that's the reason why we're watching this very carefully."
BA.2 has been growing steadily in the US. Last week, the CDC estimated it was causing about 12% of new Covid-19 cases here.
Meanwhile, BA.2 now accounts for more than 50% of cases in the UK and several other European countries.
"The tipping point seems to be right around 50%," said Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "That's when we really start to see that variant flex its power in the population" as far as showing its severity.
In the UK, 86% of eligible people are fully vaccinated, and 67% are boosted, compared with 69% of those eligible vaccinated and 50% boosted in the US.
"What we see happening in the UK is going to be perhaps a better story than what we should be expecting here," Althoff said.
It will be important for people to understand they may be able to take their masks off for a few weeks, Althoff said, but they might also need to go back to wearing them regularly if cases spike.
"The important thing in this massive experiment where we're dropping all masking and restrictions is we have to stay diligent in terms of monitoring of it and testing and be prepared to possibly reverse a lot of the relaxing of these restrictions," said Deborah Fuller, a microbiologist at the University of Washington.
"We can't let our guard down, because the message that people get when they say 'we're lifting restrictions' is the pandemic is over. And it's not," she said.
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Re: Latest on the Corona Virus
The pandemic is O-V-E-R. It's been over for me for a long, long time. No mask. No social distancing. It's time to party like it's 1999.Adversity temporarily visits a strong man but stays with the weak for a lifetime.Comment
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Re: Latest on the Corona Virus
COVID-19 deaths fall worldwide, though cases are increasing, says WHO - TheBlazeComment
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