It’s OK to relax a little and take off that mask when community COVID-19 transmission rates are low. But an epidemiologist says that that’s also the time to prepare.
“When case counts are low, we also have to prepare. We can’t just forget about COVID,” Katelyn Jetelina, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, said Wednesday during a LeadingAge membership call.
Preparation means getting vaccinated and boosted, ordering antigen tests, and advocating for better air filtration systems in schools and businesses, she said.
The next couple of weeks will be telling about what effect the omicron BA.2 variant will have on the nation, Jetelina added. If there is an uptick in cases, she said, people have to be willing to put a mask back on and use those antigen tests.
“If we can do all of these, we can ride the wave with some sort of resilience, and we’ll be prepared for whatever comes next,” Jetelina said, adding that she uses a guideline of 50 cases per 100,000 people as an indicator of very low transmission. If numbers exceed that amount, she said, consider wearing a mask and “being smart about breaking transmission chains.”
COVID vaccination benefits
Aside from avoiding severe infection and hospitalization, Jetelina said, COVID-19 vaccinations carry a 50% risk reduction for “long COVID” symptoms.
Between 10% and 30% of people infected with COVID-19 will go on to experience long COVID, she said. That means that 23 million Americans now are experiencing it, with symptoms ranging from mild to debilitating. Twelve months after people have infections, the medical community is seeing cases of heart disease, stroke, brain problems and diabetes, she added.
“We’ve all been focused on COVID disease, but it’s very clear the health footprint of this pandemic will extend decades beyond these immediate waves — and long COVID will play a role,” Jetelina said.
The country is at a pivotal point where it can learn from its mistakes and fix them, “or we can continue the deadly cycle of panic and neglect we’ve continued to do throughout infectious diseases,” she said.
