Here is Dr. Klotman’s weekly update on the smoldering COVID apocalypse – week 121. There are some interesting findings this week. The COVID hospitalizations in Harris country indicate a High prevalence of disease there. The wastewater COVID levels are congruent with that finding.
Subvariants BA.5 and BA.4 continue to account for the majority of new cases – with BA.5 dominating. A study looking at the effectiveness of antibody response acquired through vaccination and natural infection shows that neither is particularly effective against BA.5 which has major changes in the spike protein’s receptor binding domain that help it escape the antibodies. Bummer.
To those considering travel out of the country, you may want to go online to check out the availability of Paxlovid in your destination country. Although this treatment is widely available, different countries use different criteria to determine who is eligible for the treatment and who is not. If you aren’t sure, you may want to check with your PCP to see whether you can obtain the treatment here and take it along just in case.