Choose Your Own Covid Adventure: Booster, Mask Decisions Left To Public
With more tools available at this phase of the pandemic, government and public health officials have shifted away from setting guidelines on covid vaccines, booster shots and masks. Instead, individuals are urged to assess their own risk and decide on precautions. So even in the face of another viral surge, news outlets report that most Americans are choosing a path of least resistance — or apathy.
The Wall Street Journal:
Officials Adopt New Message On Covid-19 Behaviors: It’s Your Call
In the latest phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, federal and local officials are telling people to decide for themselves how best to protect against the virus. Health officials are leaving it up to people to assess if they need booster shots, whether to wear a mask and how long to isolate after a positive test. Businesses, schools and other entities are scaling back specific guidelines as they prepare for a return to normal. (Hopkins, 4/17)
NBC News:
Fear, Uncertainty And Apathy: Covid Infections Rise, But Hospitalizations Remain Low
People may want reassurances about the virus and what's coming next, but they are hard to find in the data. Instead, the numbers point to a murky picture of Covid, particularly looking at case counts and hospital occupancy. At this point, hospitalizations are probably the most solid measure of where the country is on Covid, and they are still low nationally. Hospitalizations are up very slightly from the previous week but still nearly at the lowest they have been in 21 months and nowhere near previous spikes. (Chinni, 4/17)
Fortune:
The COVID Wave America Doesn’t Care About: ‘Everybody Is Sick Of COVID’
The U.S. is in a stealth wave of stealth Omicron—probably. It can’t be known for certain because the country doesn't have the data it should have. That’s not for lack of technology or supply, but for lack of willpower. Americans largely don’t want to get tested for COVID right now. But it sure seems like another COVID wave, and Americans want to ignore it. On Thursday the U.S. had a seven-day average of nearly 42,000 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center dashboard, based on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data—up 6,000 cases from a week ago and 14,000 cases from two weeks ago. (Prater, 4/16)
The Washington Post:
A Tale Of Many Pandemics: In Year Three, A Matter Of Status And Access
At this precarious moment in the pandemic — with cases comparatively low but poised to rise again — the reality is that people are experiencing many different pandemics depending on their job, health, socioeconomic status, housing and access to medical care. ... For millions of Americans, the pandemic remains a ubiquitous threat to their lives and livelihoods. They are immunocompromised or otherwise at higher risk of severe illness, unable to take paid time off or to work from home, and they struggle to make ends meet. (Abutaleb, 4/16)
The New York Times:
Is Covid More Dangerous Than Driving? How Scientists Are Parsing Covid Risks
Scientists are thinking anew about how to discuss Covid risks. Some have studied when people could unmask indoors if the goal was not only to keep hospitals from being overrun but also to protect immunocompromised people. Others are working on tools to compare infection risks to the dangers of a wide range of activities, finding, for instance, that an average unvaccinated person 65 and older is roughly as likely to die from an Omicron infection as someone is to die from using heroin for a year-and-a-half. (Mueller, 4/17)
Also —
CNN:
Is Herd Immunity For Covid-19 Still Possible?
This time last year, the brand new, stunningly effective Covid-19 vaccines were rolling out across the country, injecting a strong note of optimism into the United States' once fumbling pandemic response. Millions of people were lining up daily to get their shots. Instead of the steady drumbeat of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, we were tracking a new number: the percentage of Americans who had been vaccinated. This number, we believed, was our best chance to beat the virus. The US was caught up in a fever dream of reaching herd immunity, a threshold we might cross where vulnerable individuals -- including those too young to be vaccinated or those who didn't respond well to the vaccines -- might be protected anyway because, as a community, we would weave an invisible safety net around them. (Goodman, 4/15)
