Reassuringly, older, non-expired assessments do nonetheless appear to be selecting up new variants of the virus (though it’s value taking into account that we don’t know the way future variants would possibly evolve). However they’ve by no means been 100% correct, and so they nonetheless aren’t. (Antonio reviewed just a few of the assessments again in 2021 and had blended outcomes.)
A research revealed a few days in the past discovered that symptomatic folks ought to actually take two assessments, 48 hours aside. And individuals who assume they could have been contaminated however don’t have signs ought to check 3 times.
A few months in the past, the WHO declared that covid was now not a public well being emergency of worldwide concern. Which sounds nice, till you notice it’s as a result of it’s now “a longtime and ongoing well being problem.” Oh, and it’s nonetheless a pandemic.
There can nonetheless be big spikes in case numbers, like final winter, when the WHO recorded over 44 million instances on December 19. And whereas deaths have fortunately declined, they do nonetheless occur. The newest information we now have means that 497 folks died of covid within the week ending July 3. Deaths have been a lot greater in January of this yr, with 20,000 to 40,000 each week. Once more, these are simply the recorded covid deaths. The true numbers are more likely to be greater.
Personally, I’m not as frightened about covid-19 as I used to be in the course of the early days of the pandemic. That’s partly as a result of I’m totally vaccinated and have already had covid not less than twice. I’m additionally lucky sufficient to not have a situation that makes me susceptible to extreme illness.
However the elephant within the room is lengthy covid—one other hotly contested matter. (There was a very intense debate surrounding lengthy covid in kids, as I lined right here.) The situation continues to trigger lasting ache and struggling to an unknown however important variety of folks. Scientists consider it’s attainable to develop the situation after any an infection with the coronavirus.
So I’m maintaining my unexpired assessments for now, simply in case.
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mRNA vaccines helped us by way of the pandemic. However they may additionally assist defend towards many different infectious ailments, supply common safety towards flu, and even deal with most cancers, as I lined in a bit exploring what’s subsequent for this know-how.
