COVID-19 cases are on the rise again across the country. What should we do to respond at this stage in the pandemic? ashishkjha, MarleneKWolfe and AmeshAA join OnPointRadio.
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR: I'm Kimberly Atkins Stohr in for Meghna Chakrabarti, and this is. COVID-19 is once again spiking across the country. In the past two weeks, there has been a nearly 20 percent increase in COVID-related hospitalizations. But we're not in 2020 or even summer 2021. While cases have risen, so have vaccinations. About 67 percent of all Americans are fully vaccinated. But now we're hearing words like"immunity-defiant" associated with this latest variant.
ATKINS STOHR: So when you're talking about the tools and saying that they work against BA.5, what specifically are you talking about? DR. JHA: Yeah. So, first of all, we should take a step back and think about what's going on here. What's going on is over the last year and a half, we have built up a wall of immunity in our country, largely through vaccinations and boosting, but also through prior infections. And that puts pressure on the virus, evolutionary pressure on the virus to try to figure out how to evade our immune wall. And that's what's happening.
And the other question that comes up a lot, Kimberly, is — people say,"Well, if I get a shot now, will I still be eligible for a, you know, Omicron-specific booster later in the fall or winter?" And the answer is yes. Getting the vaccine shot now protects you for the rest of the summer into the fall and does not preclude you from getting another booster later in the year.
ATKINS STOHR: Well, what about the fact that after all of the legal fights over masking requirements, for example, that ultimately fell, most notably with the transportation mandate falling? So now we see lots of unmasked people on planes, for example, that there is not the same push to say,"Hey, people should be masking, particularly when we see these variants.
ATKINS STOHR: So I recently have heard from a lot of people who said — particularly immunocompromised people — have said they really feel like they've been left out on their own with this guidance, particularly when it comes to things like masks. I mean, I speak personally. I was on a plane yesterday. I have asthma. I wore a mask. I was the only person in my eyeshot wearing a mask on the plane.
For me, the most important thing is, we're focused on making sure that the things they need to protect themselves. And then obviously if they get an infection, making sure that high quality treatments are readily available. That's our strategy. And I think it is very focused on making sure we're protecting people who are vulnerable.ATKINS STOHR: All right. Dr. Ashish Jha is White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator. Dr. Jha, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.
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