12/20/2023 0 Comments Here health![]() ![]() "We're definitely being careful, but we're still going out," she says. Plus, her mother is 80 and undergoing cancer treatment. She has an autoimmune condition and takes medication that suppresses her immune system. Landon describes how she manages risks in her own life. "Age is still one of the biggest risk factors," says Landon, "75- or 80-year-olds are definitely at much higher risk than younger individuals, but that doesn't mean it's a death sentence at all." Emily Landon, a hospital epidemiologist at UChicago Medicine. The patients who remain most vulnerable to COVID-19 and are still ending up in the hospital tend to be highly immunocompromised and dealing with multiple underlying health conditions, says Dr. "It's reasonable to be really focusing on protecting those people at the highest risk in your life rather than earlier in the pandemic, when you may have wanted to take precautions more universally," says Lessler. An infection also carries the possibility of long COVID, a debilitating condition for some people, with no proven treatment.īut Lessler says it's clear the calculus has changed for more people. ![]() In early November, more than 16,000 people were hospitalized in the U.S. There are still obvious risks that come with getting infected. "We all realize that if we're symptomatic, obviously, we would not interact with each other."Ĭhu says she's comfortable doing this because those she'll be spending time with have received the updated vaccine, and they don't plan to be around people who have a high risk of serious illness. Helen Chu, a professor at UW Medicine in Seattle. "We are approaching it like a normal holiday," says Dr. "Almost every American at this point has some degree of immunity."Įven though only about 15% of adults have opted for the latest booster, Griffin says it's important for people to realize that the original three shots are generally holding up quite well against severe disease, although boosted people may feel an extra sense of security, especially if they're at high risk. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease specialist at Columbia University. "This holiday season is going to be different than previous ones and it's because vaccines work," says Dr. Practically speaking, this makes it unlikely most of us will coast through airports or big family get-togethers without running the risk of being exposed, but infectious disease doctors and epidemiologists largely agree that COVID-19 doesn't need to rule our holiday plans anymore. The winter travel season generally helps usher in more viral illness as people zoom around the country and spend time indoors. Luckily, Rivers says there's nothing about the new omicron variants that looks particularly alarming and the updated vaccines still match those circulating strains of the virus quite well. "So there's quite a bit heading into this holiday season." ![]() "We're also seeing very high levels of RSV, and influenza is also starting to cause trouble," she says. Hospitalizations have risen more than 8% in recent weeks, but it's not yet clear how severe a wave the U.S can expect this season, says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. As expected, emergency department visits and the number of people being admitted to the hospital are ticking up around the country, alongside other bugs. While there was an uptick of cases in the late summer, the virus is now a fixture of the winter respiratory illness season. Meanwhile, half said they plan to take at least one precaution over this fall and winter. One recent poll found at least two-thirds of the public are not worried about getting COVID over the holidays or spreading it to people who are close to them. "I suspect that next year will look just like this year and the year after that with some variation, just like we see with flu."Īnd by all accounts, most Americans are essentially back to business as usual. "It's going to be a persistent threat," says Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Hard to believe we are in our fourth holiday season with COVID-19 potentially crashing the party - always an unwelcome guest. Masking on planes isn't as common as it was in this May 2020 photo, but it is still a good idea, especially if you are on your way to Thanksgiving with older adults or immunocompromised people. ![]()
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