North Carolina, Durham- Experts at Duke University said another outbreak of Covid-19 reaching the levels of cases seen in January with the contagious Omicron variant is unlikely, but insisted caution should be exercised.
On Thursday, April 21, Dr. David Montefiori, director of the AIDS Vaccine Research and Development Laboratory, and Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke School of Medicine, held a virtual session for journalists to talk of the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic-endemic.
be cautious
Doctors said that because many people in the United States have been vaccinated, or previously infected, or both, they won’t see a national increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
The experts indicated that “it is prudent for people to be cautious, to be aware of what is happening in their communities and to wear masks when they consider it necessary.”
The two scientists discussed air travel, persistent symptoms of Covid, face masks, the need for greater faith in public health, and other topics related to the pandemic.
herd immunity
Dr. Montefiori, who has been studying emerging strains of the virus, said the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 probably won’t go away, but that vaccines and previous infections are producing “herd immunity,” which helps prevent it from spreading. many people get severely ill from the current Omicron variant circulating in the state.
“I think this virus will be with us forever, it is something we have to learn to live with,” the doctor said in the virtual session.
“And the hope all along was that at some point enough immunity would build up in the population that this would become a common cold for most people, or no worse than the flu in terms of the number of cases and deaths. really serious, and we see that we are moving in that direction,” Monteriori said.
66% are fully vaccinated but only 52% with a booster
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of April 19, the percentage of people fully vaccinated in the country was 66%, which matches the percentage in North Carolina.
However, the percentage of people in the state who have an additional or booster dose to date is 52%, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).
According to the NCDHHS Covid-19 table, for the week ending Wednesday, April 20, 7,300 new cases were reported in the state, compared to 39,000 cases in one day in mid-January.
Hospitalizations are also down statewide, averaging 351 people on average last week, compared to an average of 5,000 people on January 29.
Relaxation of spread prevention mandates
Due to this trend of decreasing cases and hospitalizations, the state government and county governments have relaxed the mandates to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
This week a federal judge ended one of the measures regarding the use of masks on public transportation, trains and airplanes, while the CDC had said that the mask mandate was still necessary.
In this regard, Dr. Wolfe said that health authorities are beginning to treat Covid-19 as a common respiratory disease.
“It is not derailing our daily activities. I think that kind of endemic social response is what people tend to perceive as the end point, and we are getting closer to that.”
“We encourage people to make individual decisions about health risks, and that’s appropriate. I can make an individual choice to go to a restaurant, for example,” Wolfe said.
But he cautioned that for those people who rely on public transportation, there are still pretty compelling reasons why they should think carefully about masks.
The responsibility now belongs to each
However, the two experts pointed out that, even if protection measures are relaxed, people still must manage their personal risk to the virus, especially those with a compromised immune system, which includes the elderly, and those with serious health conditions. health, they must wear the mask in public spaces and maintain the booster doses.
“I can’t stress enough how important it really is to get a booster dose for Omicron. There is no question about the need for a booster to protect against serious infection and death in Omicron’s case,” Montefiori said.
Both Montefiori and Wolfe said, however, that the need for and timing of a second booster dose are much less clear, and that the answer will depend on each person’s potential exposure to the virus and susceptibility to the disease and their waning immunity. .
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