Infectious disease experts say many Americans have not taken the recent coronavirus outbreak seriously, are not getting vaccinated or using antiviral drugs when they get sick, even though the summer wave of infections was larger and came earlier than expected.
Epidemiologists say symptoms in this outbreak are milder than in previous ones, but the virus remains a threat, especially to older people and those with underlying health conditions.
In response, public health officials are urging people to get a booster shot now, but to wait three to four months if they have recently been infected with COVID-19. They also urge people to get a rapid test if they feel sick, and to talk to their doctor about antiviral treatment if they do get infected with COVID-19.
“There’s a lot of coronavirus out there,” says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health. “If you have any symptoms, get yourself tested. You might get some help from taking a medication. At the very least, you’ll know you have it and you can stay home so you don’t spread it to other people.”
Notably, COVID-19 activity in U.S. wastewater in August was nearly double the level of the same period last year and roughly the same as the peak in summer 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. Still, hospitalizations and deaths are a fraction of what they were in 2022.
“Any time someone gets sick there’s always a risk, but the fact that we haven’t seen a significant increase in hospitalizations or deaths is what we’re ultimately going to focus on as this virus isn’t going away,” Nuzzo said.
Justin Ressler, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, said the unexpected increase in infections was due to the new variants “escaping the immune system more quickly than expected” and people being less wary of the virus than usual.
Ressler said if you experience any COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough or sore throat, you should get tested even if you’re not worried.
“Right now it’s about courtesy rather than the direct public health impact,” Ressler said, which means being considerate of “those who may be at higher risk or who are more concerned about infection than others.”
The Biden administration recently announced that it will again offer free COVID-19 testing at the end of September, and U.S. households can order four COVID-19 tests on Covidtests.gov.
It’s also important to get tested when symptoms appear, as antiviral drugs like Paxlovid are most effective when taken early in the illness. Despite the benefits of this drug, studies have shown it is underutilized.
“I think doctors, like the general public, have come to think of COVID-19 as just another thing, rather than something that can be addressed quickly and aggressively with antiviral drugs when appropriate,” said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Although the virus is not as dangerous as it was during the pandemic, COVID-19 can still cause severe illness.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Inc., and epidemiologists are recommending people get the booster shots now rather than waiting until winter approaches.
Hanage said he was concerned that “people will not take advantage of the protections available to them, and we will see more severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths than we need to.”
Nuzzo said he won’t argue with young people who are determined to get COVID-19, but he wants to make sure older people, who are at higher risk, get vaccinated.
“There are clear advantages,” Nuzzo said.
Epidemiologists don’t have a clear answer for what coronavirus case numbers will be like as the fall and winter progresses.
“I think there’s a slight chance the waves will be smaller because of the big waves we had in the summer, but that being said, we haven’t had a waveless winter yet,” Roessler said. “I don’t see any reason why that would change.”
