This week’s COVID update from the Texas Medical Center focuses on the shift in the relative prevalence of the newest Omicron sub-variants, their contagiousness and virulence. It’s a typical good news bad news story. The newest variants are much more contagious but appear to cause milder disease. It’s also important to note that previous COVID infection doesn’t ensure immunity to the new variants whereas vaccination does a much better job of protecting against serious COVID illness.
Vaccination worldwide is still problematic. Africa and parts of the Middle East still have such low vaccination rates that those regions will continue to be the source of new variants. To be entirely honest, even if we vaccinated every person on the planet, the virus has found a larger zoonotic reservoir than it had back in China when it was largely a virus of horseshoe bats. Now it is found in white-tailed deer, mink, wild and domestic felines, and who knows where else. Sigh.
If you are an old fart like me (soon to be 73), I suggest that you wear a mask in indoor public spaces like stores. I’d avoid indoor spaces for public events like movies, plays, and the like. As for boosters, if you haven’t had the first booster, get it. If you are thinking about a second booster, take it before fall and sooner if there is a big outbreak in your city/county/state. I think I’m going to take mine with my Flu vaccine.
Have a good weekend.
I have more boosters than an SpaceX Rocket.