‘It’s time to put on the mask again’: experts alarmed by rising COVID-19

This advice to re-wear a mask should be brought to the attention of 80-year-old US President Joe Biden, says cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner. “The octogenarians are the highest risk group for complications after contracting Covid,” says Dr. Reiner. “At least until the numbers start to drop again, it would be appropriate for President Biden to take some precautions and wear a mask in the crowd.”

Other high-risk groups include people with diabetes, cancer, chronic liver, kidney, or lung disease, organ or stem cell transplants, HIV or other immune-compromising conditions, a history of heart disease or stroke, dementia, or mental health problems, CNN notes. health.

“If you are caring for someone who is at increased risk of complications from an infection, then I think you should also consider wearing a mask in public,” emphasizes Jonathan Reiner, professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. .

“And since the most effective are N95 masks, which are now readily available, this is the mask you should wear,” he added.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging people to “wear the mask that works best for you, provides protection and comfort,” and notes that some people are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. But the agency does not make general recommendations for everyone to wear masks. This may change if the number of hospitalizations reaches a critical level. The CDC recommends universal masking in jurisdictions where there are 20 or more people with covid per 100,000 people in local hospitals, and wearing a mask for high-risk individuals when 10 to 19.9 people per 100,000 are hospitalized due to the virus.

Overall, for the week ending August 12, there were about four new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people across the United States, which is considered low, according to CDC thresholds. None of the counties had a high rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations. But 85 districts – about 3% of the country’s territory – were at the average threshold. About a quarter of these counties were in Florida.

“In a crowded room, crowded, poor ventilation, I am still suspicious of this moment, especially given the surge that we are starting to see now, and I don’t know when it will stop,” says Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist from the Scripps Institute for Translational Research.

A new variant of the coronavirus, known as BA.2.86, has attracted the attention of scientists because it is highly mutated, but so far it has only been found in a small number of people around the world, CNN notes.

However, “it doesn’t look good… in terms of the ongoing evolution of the virus,” comments Eric Topol. The virus “continues to find new ways to challenge humans, find new hosts and repeat hosts, and it is relentless.”

The CDC has stopped reporting the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases this year, but the rising number of hospitalizations has raised concerns among those tracking the disease.

Virus levels in toilet wastewater, which could be an early sign of a community surge, have doubled, warns Dr. Robert Wachter, professor and chair of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

“The number of hospitalizations has not yet doubled, but I think it will probably double as the numbers are a couple of weeks behind,” says Dr. Wachter. “The risk of you getting infected now is higher than it was a month or two ago, no doubt probably twice as high. If you’re trying to be careful, it’s time to put on the mask again.”

While new variants of the coronavirus, such as the dominant variant like 5, may not have led to the recent acceleration on their own, they may be somewhat resistant to the immunity provided by current vaccines and inoculations.

“In addition, most people have not been vaccinated for some time, so herd immunity is lower than it was six months ago,” says Dr. Wachter. “The virus sees this and sees that most of the faces, noses and mouths are open and unprotected, so it uses this opportunity to its advantage.”

A new vaccine designed to better protect against many widely circulating strains of covid is about a month away, and most people can wait for this new shot to boost their immunity, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California , San Francisco.

But if you’re over 65, immunocompromised, or haven’t had COVID recently, and haven’t taken another dose of a bivalent booster, you should get it now to protect yourself, the expert added.

The new vaccine, coming out this fall, will target a family of Omicron subvariants called XBB and is expected to provide good protection against even newer versions, Eric Topol said, but scientists aren’t sure how dangerous the BA.2.86 strain will be.

Some institutions in the US are already responding to rising Covid cases. Morris Brown College in Atlanta announced a return to mandatory physical distancing and masks just a week after classes began in August.

And pediatricians are prepared for the typical back-to-school surge in all sorts of respiratory illnesses, be it colds, flu or Covid.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of cases of covid, and in general the overall percentage of testing at home is low, so there may be even more cases of Covid than we know, especially since the vast majority of children have no symptoms or mild symptoms,” says the pediatrician Dr. Sarah Bode, Medical Director of the School at the National Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

However, most students do not need to wear masks and should instead use traditional prevention such as handwashing, coughing into the elbow and staying home when sick, notes Sarah Bode, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health.

However, if a child has a serious illness that affects their immune system and ability to fight infections, “that’s when I would recommend talking to your doctor about the need for an individual mask to prevent exposure,” she said.

Masking in schools could be reverted to if needed during the outbreak, Bode said, “but I would definitely stress and encourage people to make this change and not go back to virtual learning.”

“The pandemic has taught us that children should go to school. It’s really important for their social and emotional health,” she said.

While some healthcare facilities and hospitals are phasing out mask-wearing requirements, a group of doctors in Washington state wrote in an editorial published Tuesday that healthcare facilities should support the use of masks — even if the general population doesn’t.

“Wearing a mask also remains an important mitigation measure to protect the health of our healthcare workers, including those at high risk of severe illness,” doctors wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Despite the concerns of experts and some institutions, Americans do not appear to be sufficiently concerned about the recent surge in cases to change their behavior. According to the latest Axios/Ipsos American Health Index poll, Covid-19 is at the very bottom of their list of key public health threats, according to CNN.

The survey found that the number of adults who say they sometimes or constantly wear a mask in public continues to decline, while 82% have not been tested at home for Covid-19 in the last week.

When it comes to self-defense, “now everyone chooses their own adventure,” Wachter said. “I don’t particularly blame young, healthy vaccinated people for saying, ‘I’m done with this.

“Covid is not only the consequences of an infection,” says Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, adding that an infection can increase the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease, which are not dependent on long-term Covid. “You don’t want to be afraid of it or beat around the bush like a boy in a bubble. But if you can’t understand it, that’s fine at any age.”

Regardless of how you feel about wearing a mask, the reality is that COVID-19 is here to stay, experts say, and we will need to continue to adapt.

“The virus is always hiding, waiting to be discovered, so I think Covid will just be something of a roller coaster, probably forever,” Wachter said. “I compare it to the Golden Gate Bridge: you finish painting it, and the minute you finish it, you have to start all over again.”