Signs of renewed life abound, as if all is back to pre-2020 normal, before COVID-19 struck: Fewer masks are being seen in public, congestion has returned to roadways, and people are socializing at every turn.
So the COVID-19 pandemic is over, right? Wrong.
True, the worst might be behind us, compared to the scary early months in 2020 when little was known about the novel coronavirus and how to fight it. Today, we’re armed with effective vaccines that stave off infection, plus new drugs to fight illness once infected. But that’s making people too complacent, at a critical time as the coronavirus mutates — again.
It’s time to heed calls from the Biden administration and health experts for renewed caution against COVID-19, to get vaccines and boosters if eligible, and to wear masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants spread rapidly across the U.S.
A “reinfection wave” is looming, driven by the omicron subvariant BA.5, which now accounts for some 65% of U.S. infections (the earlier BA.4 accounts for about 17%). The most worrisome aspects of BA.5? Its highly contagious nature, and its ability to sneak past acquired immune defenses. That capability to evade antibodies in vaccinated people and in those infected by earlier COVID variants means that BA.5, simply, is more effective in getting past the body’s built-up defenses than ever before.
Also concerning: reinfection’s link to “long COVID” — health problems such as brain fog, fatigue and shortness of breath that impair some patients long after initial infection. Worry is spreading that each subsequent bout of COVID is worse on an individual than the previous one, as indicated in a June “preprint” study making the rounds. That study, by a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, has yet to be peer-reviewed, but suggests that people who get sick multiple times may have a higher risk of long-COVID symptoms.
In Hawaii, last week’s stats show BA.5 and BA.4 accounting for about one-fifth of infections here — but that’s expected to rise when the state Department of Health (DOH) releases its weekly data today. Complicating the accuracy of COVID spread is the undercounting of positives due to home-testing, which aren’t tallied.
Hawaii’s trends tend to be delayed — but they do follow mainland ones, which in turn, tend to follow European trends. And there, in Europe, the rapidly spreading omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.4 are now driving a summertime surge after most COVID policies were removed in spring.
It may be time for Hawaii’s DOH to return to releasing COVID statistics on a daily rather than weekly basis, in order to keep vaccinations and better health protocols top-of-mind, in hopes of preventing omicron spread. The BA.5 and BA.4 subvariants don’t seem to cause more-severe disease — good news — and that’s thanks to acquired antibodies via immunization or earlier infection.
Life activities have rebounded, as they should, but the latest coronavirus mutations show the necessity for renewed vigilance and precautions.
Wear a mask indoors and in crowded situations, stay home and isolate when feeling ill, do a COVID test if feeling sick, and seek treatment if symptoms are severe. That’s all stellar advice shared by Dr. Todd Allen, The Queen’s Health System’s chief quality officer, in the Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast Monday.
Foremost, get vaccinated and boosted, to help build your antibodies shield; even if infected, that could well be the difference between mild symptoms and COVID hospitalization. And with public schools starting on Aug. 1, less than three weeks away, now is the optimal time to get the keiki back-to-school ready with their shots.
As crucial as it is to keep yourself healthy, it’s not only about you — but also everyone around you, many of whom are elderly or too young, immunocompromised or otherwise unable to gain robust protection against COVID. As Allen rightly underscored: “We have got to be good stewards of each other.”
