It’s a variant of Omicron called BA.5, and it’s causing a stir mainly because it’s evolved even further than other Omicron variants from the coronavirus we already knew. Previously, infection with Omicron meant you probably had some protection against re-infection for a few months. But BA.5 strategically evades our built-in defenses against earlier versions of the virus. All this means that reinfections – even in vaccinated and recently infected people – have increased, very high. So yes, BA.5 is easier to catch than other variants, and it can feel like it’s lurking everywhere right now, infecting anyone, whether or not you’ve already been vaccinated, a booster and/or recent COVID-19 crisis. “If you’re infected with BA.1, you don’t really have good protection against BA.4/5,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading U.S. infectious disease expert, said Tuesday. We asked four leading public health experts to help us understand just how worried we should be about this new, super-stealth sub-variant of Omicron. Telling us how worried we are about new infectious disease threats is usually what these people do for a living. But the BA.5 rating gave them some pause. “I can’t answer that,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert and public health editor at Kaiser Health News. “Because it depends on your vaccination status, your age, your health, your occupation, your living situation, etc., etc.” Others gave hard numbers, but there were differences in their answers depending on where you might live or who you are.
If you’re up on vaccines, one expert says your worry scale should register at “3 out of 10”
Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan, was willing to provide a hard and fast number. “I’d say 3 out of 10,” he said, expressing mild concern about the new variation. “BA.5 is everywhere, and if you haven’t gotten it yet, chances are pretty good,” Malani said, adding, “But if you’re up to date on vaccines, the disease should be mild and without serious medical complications.” concequenses”. While there is a “high risk of exposure” to this variant, he said there are also “plenty of reasons to be optimistic.” Early treatment with Paxlovid is now free for all Americans who may need it. “With home testing and rapid linkage to treatment (for those at risk of complicated infection), COVID is manageable,” Malani said.
Seniors without booster shots should be more concerned
In the UK, which is at least a few weeks ahead of the US in terms of the strain’s spread, national health experts estimated that the protection afforded by the BA.5 vaccines “remains likely comparable to that seen previously “, meaning vaccinated and boosted people, while certainly at risk of getting sick with BA.5, probably won’t end up in the hospital or die. For those who are not informed about the shots and who do not have a plan of action for COVID-19, the results can be bad. The European Union earlier this week published new recommendations for a second booster for all adults aged 60 and over, in line with what the US already recommends. “We are currently seeing increasing notification rates of COVID-19 cases and an increasing trend in hospital and ICU admissions and occupancy in many countries, mainly due to Omicron’s BA.5 subclass,” said Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center of Disease Prevention and Control, he said. “There are still too many people at risk of serious infection from COVID-19 that we need to protect as soon as possible,” he added.
Regional differences in vaccination rates and heat waves can complicate the calculation
Katelyn Jetelina, a public health expert who runs the popular blog Your Local Epidemiologist wasn’t willing to give a single number for the entire US. He said the risk was very variable right now, based on where you lived. “I’m pretty worried about the South,” he said, ranking it a 7 out of 10 because of low booster shot rates, low Paxlovid use, low testing and “everyone going in for the heat.” The South also had a relatively low number of infections in the recent BA.2.12.1 wave, unlike the Northeast, where Jetelina said people should be at a concern level of about 4 out of 10. Bottom line: If you’re amped up, wear masks when needed, and have a test-and-treat action plan if you get sick, most experts agree that this wave should turn out okay for you. But like all risk calculations, “the number is different depending on who is applying it,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “If it’s a new lung transplant patient, the number would be 10. For a healthy 18-year-old, it would be 0,” he said. “The risk is not the same for everyone.” This article was originally published by Business Insider. More from Business Insider:
