Avoid making these mistakes.
We're all looking forward to the end of COVID. But just because we want the pandemic to end doesn't mean it will. While doctors are asking Americans to weigh the risks and benefits of returning to routine activities for their mental health, they also advise that some safeguards must be taken. We're learning to live with COVID-19, which means avoiding these blunders for everyone's health.
1. Ignore Your Community's Transmission Levels
Keeping up with COVID transmission levels in your town can lower your risk of catching the disease, but it will also help local hospitals avoid becoming overburdened. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidelines on what constitutes "medium" and "high" COVID spread in local communities, and it advises taking certain safeguards if those levels alter. (The agency now has a colour-coded map on its website, with green indicating a low spread, yellow showing a medium spread, and red telling a significant distance.) If you live in a high-spread location, you should consider wearing a face mask in public and avoiding non-essential activities. If you're in a yellow zone, see your doctor about whether you need to wear a mask or take other precautions.
2. Be Un-Vaccinated
COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters remain highly effective in preventing severe disease, hospitalization, and death caused by the virus. The CDC reported in late March that unvaccinated people have a 21-fold higher chance of dying from COVID than those vaccinated and boosted. During the Omicron outbreak earlier this year, 15 out of every 100,000 unvaccinated people died of COVID, compared to just one out of every 100,000 vaccinated and boosted patients.
3. If You're In These Groups, Skip a Booster
After completing their initial immunization series, the CDC advises that all Americans over 12 obtain a booster shot. In addition, persons over the age of 50 and those with specific immunocompromising disorders should get a second booster shot as soon as possible. Experts also suggested that some immunocompromised people, including some cancer patients, receive a fifth vaccine dosage, or third booster, this week. These booster doses are critical, according to experts, because immunity to the virus begins to fade many months following a booster dosage.
4. Get Rid of Your Face Masks
COVID isn't going away anytime soon. We're learning to live with the virus, which involves remaining adaptable and prepared to resume safety steps such as face masking. "Remember, when the metrics were put forth, the new metrics looking at the guidance of masking, it was said that if we do start seeing an uptick, particularly in hospitalizations, we may need to revert to being more careful and having more masks usage indoors," said Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, recently.
5. How to Stay Safe When You're Outside
No matter where you live, get
vaccinated as soon as possible; if you live in an area with low vaccination
rates, wear an N95 face mask, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people
you aren't sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene.