Covid continues to kill ~ 260 people a day in the US and it remains in the top10 leading causes of death. Despite that, this number is the lowest since the start of the pandemic and it has been on a slow but steady decline. Case numbers and hospitalizations continue to drop as well. But just as there seems to be some sense of normalcy in the medical community, something is going on in India.
India has seen its share of devastating Covid surges in the last 3 years. It is a massively overcrowded, mostly rural and poor population with poor medical infrastructure. It is a breeding ground for infectious disease. And once again, it appears to be the hotspot for another Covid surge. Just in the last 24 hours, over 6000 new cases have been reported, and that’s in a country with very poor reporting capabilities to begin with.
The cause of this surge appears to be a new SARS-Cov-2 variant (let’s not forget the original name of the virus). This new variant is XBB 1.1.6. It is still very early in this surge but there is concern that it is more infectious and more virulent than the last few variants we have been dealing with. The most recent variants have gotten zero press because they have not caused any uptics in cases or deaths. Infections seem mild. The news cycle is focusing on the “Trump Circus”, more gun violence and climate-change related tornados and storms causing death and destruction. Even the continued raging war in Ukraine gets much less press these days.
These are all important issues (except the Trump soap opera), but we can’t ignore what is going on in India since it could easily reach our shores in no time flat. And given the loosened travel requirements, poor booster adoption rate and continued lack of interest in basic protections such as masking, distancing and improving health, we are extremely vulnerable.
This weekend is another big holiday. Soon, we will be getting into the graduation party season. Mother’s Day. Long weekends… It is important to see family and friends, but please do so carefully. I would recommend that before gathering, especially if there are vulnerable people (which quite honestly is most of us), test yourself. Especially if you have any symptoms. If you are really symptomatic, re-test since false positives are more likely with the variants. It is the start of tree allergy season, and allergy symptoms can mimic those of infection easily but a nasal swab is cheap and simple to perform. But even if you are negative but have clear symptoms of some kind of viral illness (and there are many still out there), just stay home.
Shop early. Mask if the store is crowded. I do think there is some value in doing a nasal rinse after being in a crowd. Washing out nasal secretions embedded with viruses before the virus can take hold in your nasal tissues could be the difference between getting sick and not. Spend as much time outdoors as you can. It looks like a nice weekend and sunlight and fresh air really do help.
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If you have not been vaccinated, or boosted. Please do so. After 6 months, protection against this virus wanes significantly. As soon as I can, I plan to get another booster. I continue to see significant long-covid symptoms. And there are weird ones out there. In addition to loss and alteration in taste and smell and chronic coughs, I had a patient this week who became aphasic, meaning she lost the ability to speak. She knew what she wanted to say, just couldn’t get the words out. I saw someone else with a severely worsening diabetic state. Both brain and pancreatic cells are potential targets for the virus. You DO NOT want to get this virus, or spread it, if you can avoid it.
Enjoy being with your family and friends. Enjoy the beautiful weekend.
Stay Safe and Be Well.
AC