Dr. Klotman’s weekly COVID update focuses on the Omicron variant – its distribution, its contagiousness, its virulence, the effectiveness of current vaccines, the effectiveness of current tests, the value of masks, and the latest scoop on Pfizer’s protease inhibitor, Paxlovid, for the coronavirus.
There is a lot of good information in this update, but the biggest takeaway, I think, is that Japan has virtually stopped the spread of COVID. Why is that so important? It’s important that Japan is the country because it has a very high population density – far greater than most American cities and states. Population density and the spread of infectious respiratory diseases go hand in hand. So, anything that works to stop the pandemic in a high population density setting, is likely going to work anywhere the population density is lower.
Japan has shown us that a high level of adherence to vaccination and masking is an effective strategy to end the pandemic. It does however require nearly 100% adherence to both vaccination and masking to get the job done. Good luck trying to achieve that among the “freedum” faithful – the group least likely to adhere to either. Alas!