Four years after the novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic, it remains the most dangerous infectious respiratory disease that regularly circulates in the United States. Also seasonal influenza. Currently, the coronavirus vaccine is reformulated annually and, like the flu shot, is recommended in the fall for everyone six months of age and older. Tests and treatments for the disease are steadily being commercialized, as are weapons against influenza.And the CDC reportedly Consider influenza-like isolation guidance for COVID-19: Stay home until you feel well and have been fever-free for at least one day without taking medication.
These changes are a far cry from the early days of the crisis, when public health experts were joined by public figures, including former President Donald Trump. induce influenza to minimize Deaths due to the new coronavirus dismiss mitigation strategy. COVID-19 may still carry a greater burden than influenza, but COVID-19 policies are becoming more influenza-like.
In a sense, as the nation’s immunity increases, the new coronavirus will spread. have Robby Bhattacharyya, a microbiologist and infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, says flu symptoms are more severe.The new coronavirus seems to arrive every winter. peakBut this virus is now much less likely to hospitalize or kill us, and slightly less likely to cause long-term illness.people develop symptoms Immediately after infection, you’re less likely to get sick for just as long, especially if you’re vaccinated. Coronavirus patients will no longer overwhelm hospitals. People who develop severe COVID-19 infections tend to be more vulnerable due to age or other health problems.
Still, the coronavirus and influenza are not exactly the same. SARS-CoV-2 still surges during non-winter seasons and is widespread during other seasons. Hospitalized due to new coronavirus infection in 2023 over 900,000 Americans and killed 75,000 people.of Worst flu season in 10 years The number of hospitalizations decreased by 200,000, and the number of deaths decreased by 23,000.a Recent CDC research reported that more than 5 percent of American adults are currently suffering from long-term coronavirus infection. This infection cannot be completely prevented by vaccination or treatment, and there is no cure. Additionally, scientists understand far less about coronaviruses than influenza viruses. Its patterns of spread, its evolution, and the durability of our immunity to it are likely to continue to change.
Despite this, the CDC and White House continue to link the coronavirus to other long-term seasonal respiratory infections. Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at the University of Maryland, said that if national authorities begin to align precautions against the new coronavirus with those for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus or the common cold, that means “the risks are the same. means,” he said. Some of these decisions, especially on a case-by-case basis, are “not completely unreasonable,” said Kosti Schifri, director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health. But taken together, they demonstrate how America has become bent on treating the coronavirus as a common disease, making it impossible to manage the disease that defined the 2020s.
Each decision that is “not completely irrational” has trade-offs. For example, it would be convenient to piggyback a coronavirus vaccination on a flu shot. COVID-19 vaccination rates still fall short of influenza vaccination rates, but they could be even lower if no one can predict when vaccinations will begin. But such convenience may come at the cost of protecting Americans from the year-round threat of the coronavirus. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, told me that the once-a-year vaccine policy is “completely wrong…There’s still no damning evidence that this is a seasonal virus.” Protection against infections and minor illnesses begins to wear off within a few months, and people who take the drug in the fall may become more susceptible by the spring. That said, experts remain divided on the benefits of administering the same vaccine multiple times a year, especially for a population that is reluctant to get vaccinated. Throughout the pandemic, people with compromised immune systems have been able to receive booster vaccinations.And today, the CDC’s advisory committee I voted to Recommendation to In the coming months, older adults will once again receive a booster dose of the latest coronavirus vaccine. Neither is the pattern that flu vaccines follow.
Suspending the current coronavirus isolation guidelines, which have recommended people quarantine for five days since the end of 2021, could be equally dangerous. Many Americans have long abandoned this isolation schedule, but given that the coronavirus is new to humanity and science, symptoms alone are not enough to determine when it is safe to interact. Popescu said it still doesn’t seem to be enough. (Determining the risk is even more difficult for infected people who never develop a fever or other symptoms.) Researchers currently have no idea how long people can transmit the virus once they become ill. “We don’t have a clear picture,” Schifri said. For most respiratory illnesses, fever occurs relatively early in the infection, typically when the risk of infection is highest, said Aubrey Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. However, SARS-CoV-2 stick to On this same rough timeline, infected person can hut virus After symptoms appear Symptoms are starting to subside, and “the shedding period is definitely longer than the regular flu,” Gordon said. (When asked about the details and exact timing of the updates, a CDC spokesperson said, “There are no updates to our coronavirus guidelines that we can announce at this time.”) (He did not answer questions about whether he had given it to him.)
At least that’s what Emily Landon, an infectious disease physician at the University of Chicago, told me. all If you have a respiratory illness, people who have just come out of isolation should be told to mask up for several days if they are indoors with others. She would support changing the separation recommendation with this caveat. But if the CDC were to align its policy exactly with its flu policy, it might not mention mask-wearing at all.
Some experts told me that symptom-based isolation could also remove any remaining incentive to get tested for the coronavirus. It would mean little if guidelines for all respiratory diseases were essentially the same. To be fair, Americans are already testing less frequently. avoid Coronavirus-specific requirements for time away from work and school. And Osterholm and Gordon said that at this point in the pandemic, keeping people at home for five days is not sustainable, especially without paid sick leave, especially for health care workers who are in short supply. He said he agrees that it is not. The respiratory virus epidemic is in full swing.
But the fewer people tested, the less likely they will be diagnosed, and the less likely they will benefit from antiviral drugs such as paxlobid, which are most effective when given early. Schifri said this pattern worries many health care providers could cause symptoms similar to the flu. hesitate to prescribe Tamiflu, Discuss Its effectiveness.The use of paxrobid is already in place unstable; both antiviral drugs may remain chronically underutilized.
Influenza outbreaks also threaten to add further stigma to the long-lasting coronavirus.Other respiratory infections, including influenza documented It can cause long-term illness, but its incidence is lower than the current SARS-CoV-2, and the severity is different. Folding this new virus in with other viruses could make the long novel coronavirus seem increasingly negligible. Additionally, fewer tests and fewer coronavirus diagnoses will make it much more difficult to link chronic conditions to this coronavirus, keeping patients out of clinics for long-term COVID-19 infections, or keeping them away from long-term COVID-19 illnesses. may reinforce a false image of scarcity.
The United States continues to treat the coronavirus differently than the flu in several ways.Certain coronavirus products remain more Available; Some precautionary measures in medical settings continue to be tightened. However, these differences will continue to disappear, even as the effects of the new coronavirus continue. Tests, vaccines, and treatments are gradually becoming commercially available. When demand decreases, supply may also decrease. And several experts said they wouldn’t be surprised if hospitals also tighten their COVID-19 precautions soon, for example by allowing recently infected employees to return to work. When the fever goes down.
Early in the pandemic, public health experts hoped the coronavirus tragedy would prompt a rethink. all Respiratory diseases. The pandemic has shown us what mitigation measures can do. During his first year of the crisis, isolation, masks, distancing, and shutdowns all but stopped influenza transmission and may have driven entire strains of the virus to extinction. “Did you ever think in your dreams that that was possible?” Landon told me.
Most of these measures were not sustainable. But America’s leaders have successfully crossed the halfway mark. The United States could have created and maintained a system with universally available treatments, tests, and vaccines against a longer list of pathogens. They might have invested in widespread ventilation improvements or instituted universal sick leave. American homes may have been stocked with tests for numerous infectious organisms and masks for people to wear when they start coughing. Vaccination requirements in medical settings and schools may expand. In fact, “we seem to be in a situation more akin to 2019 than a future in which we can avoid catching colds from each other,” Bhattacharya told me.
It means returning to the original world. tens of thousands As in the 2010s, Americans die from influenza and respiratory syncytial virus each year. For the foreseeable future, as the coronavirus lingers, winter will bring yet another respiratory virus, especially one that is deadly, disabling, and contagious. The calculation is easy. “Overall, everyone’s risk is increasing,” Landon said. This simple addition may have inspired us to expand our ability to protect health and life. Rather, it seems that only our tolerance for suffering grows.
