What’s the Current State of COVID? An Update on the Global Pandemic
Written by Leslie K. Hughes
Medically reviewed by Dr. Monique White-Dominguez
Though it feels like much of life has returned to normal, the reality of it is that COVID is still going strong. The world is no longer in total lockdown, but the virus hasn’t gone away.
Despite the fact that new subvariants are emerging regularly, there is some good news. These subvariants, including the recent BA.2.12.1, don’t appear to be causing any more severe illness than previous strains, though more studies need to be done to verify this.
As of mid-May (according to the CDC), there were nearly 100,000 new daily cases of COVID which was certainly up from the previous month, but the severity of the cases does not seem to be getting any worse. Most of the cases are some subvariant of Omicron, and scientists are saying that the “ladder-like accumulation of mutations” is similar to the way in which the flu mutates every year.
This means that, theoretically, it should become easier to predict where COVID is going, which is potentially great news for vaccines and boosters. However, at this point, it is still unsure where exactly COVID will go next. In other words, COVID is not quite as low-key and predictable as the flu, but scientists are hoping that it will soon get there.
As of right now, getting infected with one subvariant of Omicron doesn’t guarantee that you can’t get infected with a different subvariant. Some people who were infected with BA.1 also got BA.2, so natural immunity with these subvariants may not give you total immune protection, but will provide some.
In other COVID news, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been limited by the FDA to adults 18 years of age and older who are unable to or refuse to be vaccinated with the Moderna or Pfizer options. The reason for the FDA limitation on the J&J vaccine is due to a blood clotting risk that was determined shortly after the vaccine was released in early 2021.
We will keep you posted as new information about COVID emerges.
As we are still learning much about this virus, it is important to stay as safe as possible and get tested for COVID regularly.
