You may still remember the omicron surge last winter. As the temperature drops, experts warn us of another winter wave of COVID. While COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. have stayed relatively low since September, with about 37,000 new cases per day, it is hard to forget that more than 1 million Americans have died since the beginning of the pandemic. COVID-19 is still very present. The omicron subvariants have waned away, but the subvariant BA.5, dominant through October, has given rise to other subvariants such as BQ.1.1, BF.7, and BA.4.6.
Dr. Armando Meza, an expert from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center said that omicron and its subvariants tend to cause more upper respiratory symptoms instead of affecting the lungs. Hence, the new variants are likely less fatal because the virus tends not to burrow deeply into the lungs. Patients may experience congestion, sore throat, and loss of taste or smell. Since many of the COVID-19 symptoms are flu-like, doctors urge people to get tested if any flu-like symptoms are exhibited.
We are seeing a rather early explosion of flu and R.S.V. (respiratory syncytial virus) outbreak this year. In addition to the COVID subvariants, doctors warn Americans of a “tripledemic.” Children infected with rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, and R.S.V. are already putting too much pressure on pediatric hospitals in multiple states. Experts claim that masking and the lack of exposure to such viruses in the past few years made children especially susceptible to sickness this year. Experts like Katherine J. Wu called this year “the worst pediatric-care crisis in history.”
The risk of a “tripledemic” is obvious: being infected by COVID-19 will not protect you from the flu, having a cold will not protect you from COVID-19, and having a flu infection will not protect you from R.S.V. This also means that a COVID-19 vaccine will not protect you from the flu, nor can a flu vaccine protect you against COVID-19. R.S.V. causes about 14,000 deaths among adults over sixty-five and about 300 deaths among children under five annually, yet no vaccine is available. Fortunately, at least two potential vaccines are in late-stage clinical trials and may be very effective in elders.
Jessica Justman, a Columbia University infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist, claims that while there are still many uncertainties about the COVID-19 virus, a few published studies have shown that rates of long COVID, lingering symptoms that occur after COVID-19 infections, will be reduced through vaccinations and boosters. In addition, Justman suggests that preventive measures will also decrease the chance of infections during the holiday season. “Vaccination, masking, social distancing, hand hygiene, and using rapid tests before large gatherings” will protect you from the virus.
Keeping your boosters up to date is especially essential this winter as your previous immunity from infection or vaccination shot wanes. Also, getting boosters can help protect the vulnerable elderly population and people with underlying health issues. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is available for everyone aged five and above, and the Moderna for people aged six and up. If you have recently gotten a booster or been infected with COVID-19, you should wait two to three months to get the new booster to optimize an immune effect. Nonetheless, vaccines are incredibly safe and are currently the best ways to protect ourselves.
According to December 8, 2022 data found on Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center website, there have been approximately 647,237,037 million cases and 6,646,977 million deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the global daily cases on average have been decreasing since the small peak in July 2022. However, there continue to be hotspots around the world. Countries that rank the highest in daily average per 100,000 people in the past month include South Korea (100), Taiwan (88), Greece (82), New Zealand (63), Japan (57), and Italy (43).
In Massachusetts, a weekly increase of more than 4,400 new cases was reported in November. The state has also reported 179 patients primarily hospitalized for COVID-19, 562 total patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 64 patients in I.C.U., and 64 COVID-19-related deaths in the past week (data was released on November 23rd). While hospitalization began to decrease over the last few weeks, there has been a spike in hospitalization rise in the Boston area. More than 5.5 million people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated, with more than 3.3 million having at least one booster. The state will be releasing another 1.2 million booster shots.
Colleges in Massachusetts continue to encourage students to get their new boosters as the holiday season approaches. Tufts University and Harvard University require students to get the bivalent booster to enroll the next semester. Other schools like Boston University, Northeastern University, and Bentley University are also mobilizing students to get their new boosters by hosting on-campus clinics. These measures should go towards blunting the impact of a winter wave in our state.
According to data released by the Board Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard in mid-November, the BQ.1.1 variant accounted for 39% of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts, and the BQ.1 variant still constitutes nearly half the national cases. Multiple studies published in early November have suggested that the BQ.1.1 is one of the variants best at evading antibody immunity. This means that BQ.1.1 will be more transmissible due to low antibodies against the variant. However, Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, said that people who got the new booster would have more antibodies than those who did not.
