Category Archives: Corona Virus

A positive result on a home COVID test. If you catch it once, can you catch it again? Turns out the answer is: Yes. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

A positive result on a home COVID test. If you catch it once, can you catch it again? Turns out the answer is: Yes.

We regularly answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here.

You got sick with COVID back in January, so you figured you were done with the virus for a while. But then you began feeling a scratchy throat and a runny nose, took a home test just in case and that second line blazed red once again.

You might well be wondering: How this can happen? Is it possible to get COVID again just a few months or even weeks after recovering from a case?

We asked four specialists to answer frequently asked questions about reinfection.

I thought I was immune at least for a while after having COVID. Is that not the case?

If you caught a previous variant before the arrival of omicron that meant you had an 84% lower risk of infection, significantly lowering your risk of getting COVID again, especially in the months right after you were sick.

But the omicron variants changed that.

A study published in March found the risk of reinfection "increased substantially" with the emergence of omicron in November, says Juliet Pulliam, lead author of the study and director of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis.

There are several omicron variants now circulating around the world, and they are very transmissible and very good at overcoming immunity, whether it's from vaccination, prior infection or both.

These omicron variants don't just evade protection you might have gained from a non-omicron version of SARS-CoV-2; you can catch the newer variants of omicron even if you had the original omicron variant before.

And any protection from infection wanes over time, so if it's been a few months since your last COVID shot or since you recovered from a case, you're more likely to be susceptible to reinfection.

But there's some slightly good news: For now, the newest omicron variants don't seem better at overcoming immunity than the original omicron.

The most recent resurgence in South Africa is now being driven by omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5. With these variants, "the risk of reinfection seems to be about the same as it was for BA.1 so higher than for previous [non-omicron] variants but not any higher than the initially circulating omicron sub-lineage," Pulliam tells NPR in an email.

How soon could I get reinfected?

That's something experts are still trying to figure out. But 60% of reinfections from non-omicron variants between March 2020 and March 2021 in Denmark occurred less than two months after the first infection, researchers found in a preprint study, which has not been peer-reviewed or published.

That means you may have a shorter time of maximum protection than you thought after an infection.

Keep in mind: The Danish researchers only looked at 15 confirmed reinfections among 593 suspected cases. The number is low for a few reasons: for one thing, reinfections weren't as common then.

Because the newer variants are much better at overcoming prior immunity, our specialists say that if you recovered from a case of COVID fairly recently and then begin showing COVID-like symptoms, you should get tested to see if you have it again.

Is a reinfection more likely to be mild or could it be severe?

Research from South Africa suggests that prior infection does protect against severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death.

With reinfection, hospitalization and death "does seem to happen occasionally but both natural infection and vaccination seem to provide good protection against severe outcomes in most individuals," Pulliam says.

Another study from Qatar found that previous infection was about 87% protective against severe or fatal COVID-19.

But keep in mind that certain conditions such as having had an organ transplant, ongoing cancer treatments or heart or lung disease make you more vulnerable to bad outcomes, even if you've encountered the virus before through vaccination or infection.

"In immunocompromised patients," the intensity of illness "depends on the patient and it depends on how impaired their immune system is," says Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital. "We can't precisely say what the effect would be."

But the intensity of your illness also depends on how long it's been since your last vaccination or previous bout with COVID, since such protection wanes over time so staying current on your vaccine schedule is a good idea.

I took Paxlovid, and a few days later I tested positive again. Is this a reinfection?

According to Robert Wachter, a professor and chair of the department of medicine at University of California, San Francisco, this is probably not an example of reinfection but something different, known as "rebound," when some patients begin experiencing symptoms and test positive again 2 to 8 days after taking the medication.

That's what happened to Wachter's wife. After taking Paxlovid, her symptoms improved markedly and she started testing negative on rapid tests. But four days later, she developed new symptoms for the first round, she had a sore throat, fatigue, and a headache, and when it came back, it felt like a really bad cold with congestion and she tested positive again.

The potential for rebound made him rethink the use of Paxlovid among younger people who aren't as at risk of severe outcomes, he says. But if he were to get sick, because of his own potential risk factors, he'd still take Paxlovid.

That's because in the clinical trials, Paxlovid lowered the rate of hospitalization by 89% among high-risk people, so those who have factors putting them at risk, like being immunosuppressed or over the age of 65, see a major benefit from taking the antiviral. That protection is true for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who are at high risk, according to a new study.

"That's real," Wachter says. "How meaningful that is for you really depends utterly on your rate of hospitalization and how much risk you have for a bad case that would make you very sick and potentially put you in the hospital or potentially kill you."

Do vaccines help prevent reinfection?

Getting vaccinated can help prevent infection and reinfection, so it's a good idea to get the shots even if you've had COVID before and thought you were protected.

"For those who are vaccinated and those who have been infected, they are much better protected," says Peter Palese, a professor and chair of the department of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Especially if you had a serious case before, getting up-to-date on your COVID shots now means you will likely have a less-severe case if you're reinfected, Palese says.

"Vaccination vaccination vaccination. Because yes, it will not protect you against the emergence of mild disease, but they will protect you from having a ventilator, being the ICU" or dying, he says.

But the immunity offered by vaccines, especially against infection, begins to wane after a few months, so getting a booster (or a second booster if you're eligible) is a very good idea.

If you were hospitalized before with COVID and then received two mRNA vaccines, that blend of protection was 35% effective in preventing subsequent hospitalizations during the first omicron wave. If you got a booster, that number rose to 68% effective against hospitalization.

And no vaccine is perfect, so continuing to take precautions wearing a mask, getting tested if you have symptoms or are exposed to COVID, improving ventilation, and more is still recommended, especially during surges like the one the U.S. is currently seeing.

Can getting COVID multiple times have long-term effects?

Long-term damage from repeat reinfections, like organ damage, is "the big question, and I haven't seen any data yet that can address it," Pulliam says.

And experts believe each COVID case could lead to long COVID, even if you were fine last time.

One in five adults experience continuing health issues after acute cases of COVID, including "persistent symptoms or organ dysfunction," according to a study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"There does seem to be a risk of long COVID or symptoms after resolution of the acute infection in a subset of people, and we don't really know how common that is yet or how long it lasts," says Lemieux.

How am I supposed to cope with the emerging and changing information about reinfection risks?

"It's a really frustrating situation, because I think everyone wants to be done with this virus, but we're just not. And we live in an era where we just want complete information at our fingertips, but we don't have it," Lemieux says.

That means we need to stay alert to the ways each new variant is changing, and how we respond to it especially in the age of reinfection.

The same precautions used to prevent infection masks, distancing, vaccinations, and more work just as well for avoiding reinfection.

Another other point to keep in mind is that reinfections aren't that unusual for coronaviruses. "I don't think it's surprising the reinfection happens, because that's a feature of coronavirus biology," says Lemieux. "It's actually surprising, if anything, that it didn't happen more often with the initial variants."

Melody Schreiber (@m_scribe) is a journalist and the editor of What We Didn't Expect: Personal Stories About Premature Birth.

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COVID reinfection: Can you catch SARS-CoV-2 twice? : Goats and Soda - NPR

The UK may be entering its third wave of coronavirus this year, researchers warn, as official figures show infections are on the rise again in England and Northern Ireland.

The Office for National Statistics said its latest analysis of swabs from households across Britain revealed a mixed picture with a small increase in positive tests in England and Northern Ireland, while the trend in Wales and Scotland remained unclear.

The ONS data, which give the most reliable picture of the state of the UK outbreak, suggest that the steady fall in infections over recent months may have gone into reverse as cases are driven up by the more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.

According to the ONS survey, an estimated 797,500 people in England and 27,700 in Northern Ireland would have tested positive for Covid in the week ending 2 June, up from 784,100 and 24,300 respectively in the week before.

The emergence in November last year of the first Omicron variant, BA.1, sparked waves of Covid around the world. This spring, a second UK wave was fuelled by a more contagious relative known as BA.2. While BA.2 is now in decline, it has two more transmissible descendants, namely BA.4 and BA.5, both of which are on the rise.

Public health officials are particularly concerned about BA.5 which is spreading faster than BA.4 and responsible for fresh spikes in cases in Europe, particularly in Portugal and Germany. At the end of May, BA.5 made up nearly 14% of Covid virus genomes analysed in England, nearly double that for BA.4.

The latest ONS report shows that the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus increased in London, the south-east and the north-wwest, but fell in the east Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber. While infections had been falling in all age groups, rates have now either levelled out or started to rise, with clear increases evident in 35- to 49-year-olds.

Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs on the ONS Covid Infection Survey, said: Todays data shows a mixed picture for infection rates across the UK, with small increases in England and Northern Ireland, likely driven by increasing trends in Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, said Jubilee celebrations might have contributed to the rise, but were only part of the large increase in mixing, travelling and interactions between large groups that continue unmitigated in the UK since all protections were dropped earlier this year.

He said a particular concern was the recent rise in Covid hospitalisations. This may be driven solely by a greater number of infections, but mutations in the newest Omicron variants could also play a role.

It is important to emphasise that we are better placed immunologically to counter much of the potential for severe disease than we were in 2020 or 2021 due to widespread vaccinations, Griffin said. As we enter, astonishingly, our third wave of 2022, a complex pattern of immunity exists induced by vaccines, boosters and prior infection.

The spring booster programme and further shots in the autumn should prevent much of the severe disease seen in earlier waves of Covid, but Griffin said concerns remain about the situation in schools, since less than 10% of under-12s are vaccinated. Given the lack of protections in schools, this will likely prompt further infections in children and staff, with predictable disruption across the board and further increases in long Covid, he said.

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Covid infections on the rise in England and Northern Ireland - The Guardian

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact people across the globe, different groups experience the virus and related restrictions differently. Children and adolescents face specific challenges based on their phase of life and how both the COVID-19 disease and measures designed to contain the disease impact them.

Children and adolescents are generally at low risk of infection, and if they become infected it is likely to be mild. However, some children and young people have had severe experiences with the disease, and a few have died.

Children and adolescents of all ages and in all countries are seriously suffering from the consequences of the pandemic. COVID-19-related measures are having a profound effect on their health and well-being and for some the impact will be lifelong.

For example, COVID-19 has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries.

In addition, according to the WHO Pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, published in August 2020, 90% of countries report disruptions to essential health services since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The most frequently disrupted areas reported include services essential for children, such as routine immunization including 70% of outreach services and 61% of facility-based services.

The harmful effects of the pandemic have not been distributed equally. Children living in vulnerable situations continue to be disproportionately affected in relation to their long-term health outcomes.

WHO/Europe continues to show its commitment to children and adolescents and to leaving no one behind as the world continues to grapple with COVID-19. Three areas of work are particularly important to ensure that children access health and social services according to their needs.

WHO/Europe has been engaging with Europes decision-makers and targeting parents, teachers and school administrators to ensure safe schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO/Europe has been working with countries across the WHO European Region to minimize the disruption of essential health systems for children. A collaborative project with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Romania, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to limit the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal, newborn, child, adolescent and aging health (MNCAAH) services.

WHO/Europe has been providing technical guidance to safeguard the quality of care for children affected by COVID-19 or other respiratory infections.

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Considering the impact of COVID-19 on children - World Health Organization

MEMPHIS, Tenn. Coronavirus cases are on the rise across the country andShelby County is averagingmore cases than it has seen inmonths.

Like many cities nationwide, Memphis is dealing with another wave of the coronavirus.

Despite the exhaustion, Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Manoj Jain feels he understands whats at stake.

I know people are frustrated about this, but really we have to be thinking about how we protect those who are vulnerable in our population, Jain said.

Over the last seven days, Shelby County is averaging 602 reported coronavirus cases a day. This is the most since February. Another trend health leadersare noticingis the increase in breakthrough infections, which Dr. Jain said was expected.

We know that the vaccine works. It works in preventing deaths and preventing hospitalizations. It doesnt work well in preventing cases that are mild or moderate, he said.

Another interesting stat from the Shelby County Health Department is over the last two weeks, nearly 1,000 children havetested positivefor COVID-19.

With cases ticking up, Dr. Jain recommendswearing a maskwhenyoure unable tosocial distance along with gettingvaccinated and boosted.

We know that second booster are clearly helpful. We know that second booster helps prevent the number of cases that occur. Weve seen it in other countries, weve seen it in our data in our own county, he said.

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Coronavirus cases on the rise in Shelby County - WREG NewsChannel 3

If you recently contracted COVID, how long are you protected and are you at risk of getting the virus again?

The question has been asked since the start of the pandemic, but as the virus continues to mutate, the answers have changed.

Omicron, for example, led to a major shift in "natural immunity," with many who had previously been infected susceptible to reinfection with the new version of the virus.

Now, as omicron makes up nearly all U.S. COVID cases, it's a question of how protection from one version of omicron will work against newer subvariants.

"At the beginning, we could very confidently, you know, sort of back in February, we could really confidently say that 90% of the people were not getting reinfected if they had COVID already," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said last week. "That's been dropping a little bit though around the world."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "after recovering from COVID-19, most individuals will havesome protection from repeat infections."

"However, reinfections do occur after COVID-19," the CDC states, adding that changes and mutations "can lead to theemergence of variantsthat can increase the risk of reinfection."

Last month, Chicago's top doctor said experts were seeing changes in immunity from infection.

"We are seeing people get COVID still, more of these what we call breakthrough infections," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. "But importantly, 'natural immunity' also is not lasting. And so we know that when somebody has had COVID, it's as much about how recently they've had it in some ways, because we are still seeing pretty good protection if somebody had one version of omicron. But we are starting to see, as omicron has continued to evolve, we're starting to see some more people who had original omicron even in December, even getting some of these these new subvariants of omicron."

While such cases aren't the norm, Arwady said, they are starting to rise.

"If you have had COVID in the last few months, your production is pretty good, but we're starting to see some more there," she said.

Currently, Chicago and several surrounding counties remain under a "high community level" for COVID, per guidelines set by the CDC.

But Arwady also warned last week that people should not "try to 'get COVID to get it over with,'" in part because it remains unclear if they could still contract the virus after infection.

"Don't think that getting COVID means you'll never get COVID again," she said. "We see plenty of people get re-infected with COVID. The vaccine is the most important thing for protection."

The uncertainty surrounding natural immunity can be particularly confusing for those experiencing long COVID symptoms.

The CDC says most people with COVID-19 "get better within a few days to a few weeks after infection." But for some, symptoms may last even longer and in other cases may even disappear and then return.

"Post-COVID conditions can include a wide range of ongoing health problems," the CDC states. "These conditions can last weeks, months, or years."

A recent study from Northwestern Medicine showed that many so-called COVID "long-haulers" continue to experience symptoms including brain fog, tingling, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus and fatigue an average of 15 months after the onset of the virus.

"Long-haulers, are defined as individuals who have had COVID symptoms for six or more weeks,the hospital system has said.

But, according to the CDC, four weeks after infection is when post-COVID conditions could first be identified.

"Most people with post-COVID conditions experienced symptoms days after their SARS CoV-2 infection when they knew they had COVID-19, but some people with post-COVID conditions did not notice when they first had an infection," the CDC states.

Long-COVID symptoms can range from a wide variety of ailments, some of which may even disappear and then return later.

"Post-COVID conditions may not affect everyone the same way. People with post-COVID conditions may experience health problems from different types and combinations of symptoms happening over different lengths of time," the CDC reports. "Most patients symptoms slowly improve with time. However, for some people, post-COVID conditions may last months, and potentially years, after COVID-19 illness and may sometimes result in disability."

Testing can also become challenging for such groups as PCR tests can "stay positive for some time," experts said.

"Those PCR tests are very sensitive," Arwady said. "They keep picking up dead virus in your nose for sometimes for weeks, but you can't grow that virus in the lab. You can't spread it but it can be positive."

According to theCDC, some people who contract COVID-19 can have detectable virus for up to three months, but that doesn't mean they are contagious.

Public health officials recommend that even those who contract COVID remain up-to-date with their vaccinations and booster shots.

"I think realistically, this is a guess, but my guess - where we're heading, given that there's no sign yet that COVID has stopped mutating...we've got to keep it from turning into hospitalizations and deaths, which are actually pretty good at already between vaccines and treatments," Arwady said. "But I do think it's likely that in the fall, we probably will see an updated version of a booster that actually has been changed to be more protective against the ways in which COVID has mutated since then."

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How Long Are You Protected After Getting COVID and Can You Get COVID Twice? - NBC Chicago

THURSDAY 6/2/2022 2:01 p.m.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reported 1,477,724 total positive coronavirus test results in the state and 13,026 total COVID-19 deaths.

The number of known cases per variant is no longer tracked as The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has updated its website, deleting that section.

Unable to view the tables below?Click here.

The DHS announced an attempt to verify and ensure statistics are accurate, some numbers may be subject to change. The DHS is combing through current and past data to ensure accuracy.

Wisconsins hospitals are reporting, that the 7-day moving average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized was 427 patients. Of those,45 are in an ICU. ICU patients made up 10.6%of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports that 9,529,383 vaccine doses and 2,040,554 booster doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of June 2.

Unable to view the tables below?Click here.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is using a new module to measure COVID-19 activity levels. They are now using the Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels. The map is measured by the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and health care systems in the communities.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 10 counties in Wisconsin are experiencing high COVID-19 community levels. None of them are located in northeast Wisconsin.

24 counties in Wisconsin are experiencing medium COVID-19 community levels, including Brown, Door, Marinette, Menominee, and Winnebago County in northeast Wisconsin.

Every other county in Wisconsin is experiencing low COVID-19 community levels.

For more information on how the data is collected, visit the CDCs COVID-19 Community Levels data page.

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Wisconsin adds over 2.6k new cases of COVID-19 - WeAreGreenBay.com

Laborers and service industry workers with lower levels of education were about five times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people in higher socioeconomic positions, according to a study co-authored by a University of South Florida professor.

Researchers analyzed nearly 70,000 COVID deaths in 2020 for adults ages 25 to 64 and also looked at whether individuals had any college education and what job sectors they worked in.

The team found 68% of COVID-19 deaths among working age adults during the first year of the pandemic were people in low socioeconomic positions with jobs in labor, retail and the service industry.

These jobs typically required on-site attendance and prolonged close contact with others.

Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist with USFs College of Public Health, is calling for improvements to workplace safety in those industries. Too often, he says, employers and safety officials focus on personal protective equipment like masks to curb infections. That is important, but Salemi argues a lot more needs to be done to protect frontline workers who have a higher chance of being exposed to the coronavirus.

We need to think about ventilation and filtration of the air for those who work in public indoor settings, he suggested, adding, Stressing the importance of testing and not coming into work sick, maybe offering paid sick leave if they [staff] do test positive.

The study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It found white women made up the largest population group considered high SEP, or socioeconomic position, which involved having at least a bachelors degree. More than half of Hispanic men analyzed in the data were in a low SEP. According to the study, the mortality rate of low SEP Hispanic men is 27 times higher than high SEP white women.

Salemi said he hopes the study raises awareness that getting back to normal does not mean the same thing for everyone. Workers in high-risk industries continue to face threats as coronavirus cases surge now.

And even if they don't get hospitalized, if they get sick, they might have to go home, they might not be able to make money during that time, he said. So just recognize that the simple steps we're able to take to bring down community transmission does an exceptional job at protecting these individuals.

Salemi authored the study with a team of researchers from the COVKID Project, which monitors data about the pandemics affect on children and teens. In this case, he said, they were studying the toll the virus has taken on the parents and grandparents of many young people.

The team plans to look at 2021 and 2022 data in the future to see how the availability of COVID-19 vaccines affects disparities in mortality.

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A USF study shows retail and service workers have higher COVID-19 death rates - WUSF News

This is solid evidence that its not all in the head, and that the sense of disgust can be related to the compounds in the distorted foods. The central nervous system is certainly involved as well in interpreting the signals that it receives from the nose. The parosmic experience is a combination of the two mechanisms which produces the distorted perception of everyday foods, and the associated sense of disgust," says Doctor Jane Parker, Associate Professor of Flavour Chemistry and Director of the Flavour Centre at the University of Reading.

We can now see that certain aroma compounds found in foods are having this particular effect. It will, we hope, be reassuring for those with parosmia to know that their experience is real, that we can identify other foods which may also be triggers and, moreover, suggest safe foods that are less likely to cause a problem. This research provides useful tools and strategies for preventing or reducing the effect of the triggers," she adds.

Another researcher Mr Simon Gane from the Royal National Ear, Nose and Throat and Eastman Dental Hospital said, "We still have a long way to go in understanding this condition, but this research is the first to zoom in on the mechanism in the nose. We now know this has to be something to do with the nerves and their receptors because thats how these molecules are detected."

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Coronavirus smell test: If you have COVID-19, here's how your coffee may smell - Times of India

Some coronavirus-positive patients who have completed treatment of the anti-COVID drug Paxlovid are rebounding into illness, and experts are urging people to be cautious if they develop COVID-like symptoms again and become infectious.

Its unclear how often post-Paxlovid rebound occurs, but University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine chair Dr. Robert Wachter said he knows of at least one person who completed Paxlovid treatment and then became infectious again, spreading the virus to other family members.

It can happen, Wachter tweeted. If you develop recurrent symptoms and have a (positive) rapid test, you are infectious. Please act accordingly.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said post-Paxlovid COVID-19 relapses are real.

Theyve happened in a significant enough number that theyve been noticed by lots of folks in lots of different places, she said.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of Mercks molnupiravir pill for treating COVID-19. The molnupiravir pill is cleared for use by adults 18 and older who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are at high risk of being hospitalized or dying.

In a statement on its website, the U.S Food and Drug Administration said it is aware of reports of COVID-19 symptoms returning following the completion of Paxlovid treatment. In some of these cases, patients tested negative on a direct SARS-CoV-2 viral test and then tested positive again, the FDA said.

The agency said that in the Paxlovid clinical trial, there have been some patients about 1% to 2% who tested negative and then became positive. The finding wasnt only in people who took Paxlovid; it also occurred in those who took the placebo.

Yet, judging by all the anecdotes, rebound sure seems more common than that were waiting for good data, Wachter tweeted. Wachter suggested that a person who has completed a course of Paxlovid and then tests positive again should be considered infectious.

Paxlovids clinical trial data were collected when the Delta variant of the coronavirus dominated nationwide, before the rise of the far-more-transmissible Omicron family thats circulating now.

The question is, Is this more common with omicron? Were actually doing a lot of work right now to try to sort that out. Were talking to health systems, getting real world experience data, said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator.

But even if the rebound rate has remained unchanged, the number of people affected could seem far larger now based on wider use of the drug.

If you have 20,000 people getting Paxlovid every day even if it was only still 2%, that would mean 400 people are having rebound every day. So it is hard to know exactly how often it happens, Jha said during a briefing Wednesday.

However, he also noted that the people who have that rebound are not getting particularly sick, are not ending up in the hospital.

If the goal of this treatment, which it was, was to prevent hospitalizations and deaths, it is doing that incredibly well, he said.

Those who wish to be especially careful about the risk of infecting others may should consider wearing a mask in all indoor settings, even around family members of the same household, for a few more days or perhaps a week once the Paxlovid treatment is complete, Wachter said.

And Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said her agency would recommend putting your mask back on should symptoms recur.

Even a rapid negative test after completing the five-day course of Paxlovid might provide false assurance that a person is not contagious. A negative rapid test result suggests a person is probably not infectious, but theres still a slight chance perhaps 1% that a person can test negative and still be contagious, Wachter wrote.

Wearing masks for a few more days seems reasonable if youre being careful, he said.

Post-Paxlovid COVID-19 rebound still seems to be unusual, Wachter said, and is not harmful to the recovering patient. Wachter said news about the rebound should not discourage people from taking Paxlovid, given its high rate of efficacy against severe illness and death.

Data has shown that Paxlovid, manufactured by Pfizer, reduces the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by 89% among higher-risk adults who have not been hospitalized.

In addition, its plausible, but not proven, that lowering viral load quickly (which Paxlovid does) might lower the risk of long COVID, and make people less infectious, Wachter wrote.

The FDA agreed that the reports of post-Paxlovid COVID-19 rebound dont change scientists overall view of the drug being highly effective.

Most importantly, there was no increased occurrence of hospitalization or death or development of drug resistance, the FDA said. These reports, then, do not change the conclusions from the Paxlovid clinical trial which demonstrated a marked reduction in hospitalization and death.

The FDA said patients should wear a mask and stay home and isolate if they have any symptoms of COVID-19, regardless of whether they have been given an antiviral drug such as Paxlovid.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday that the National Institutes of Health also are looking to study whether a longer course of Paxlovid is needed.

A positive result of rapid antigen test and a negative result of the test in the background

A report by scientists at the University of California, San Diego posted online Wednesday analyzed the case history of a traveler who returned to the U.S. following a trip to South Africa and had recurrent COVID-19 after completing a Paxlovid course. The scientists said the most likely possibility for the recurrent symptoms was insufficient drug exposure.

Among those observing the rebound was Dr. Paul Sax, an infectious disease expert at Harvard Medical School, who recounted in a recent blog post how a patient with COVID-19 rapidly recovered after taking Paxlovid but a week later called him back saying shed relapsed. Although the symptoms werent as bad as her initial illness, rapid test results showed she was clearly positive again.

Her biggest concern was getting back out in the world without infecting someone. She really wasnt that sick; she just wanted advice about when she could return to work and start socializing again, Sax wrote. Avoid close contact with others until that test clears, I said.

The patient completely recovered, and she began testing negative a few days later, Sax wrote.

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New COVID-19 mystery: Some are getting coronavirus again even after taking Paxlovid - Press Herald

Oregons chief disease specialist threaded a fine line Wednesday between cautioning Oregonians to protect themselves amid a surge in coronavirus infections while not ordering or even recommending statewide measures to prevent infection.

The current bump in identified COVID-19 infections, with a daily average of more than 1,400 reported cases per day, may be reaching its peak, Dr. Dean Sidelinger said at a now-monthly COVID-19 media update Wednesday. But the sustained growth in cases and hospitalizations means the pandemic is not yet over.

If youre in a gathering of people outside your home, sooner or later you will be exposed to the virus, Sidelinger said. The risk of exposure and infection exists in every Oregon community.

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In the more than two years since the pandemic began, Oregon has reported an average daily case load higher than 1,400 for only about four months. And underscoring how widespread the disease is likely to be, the epidemiologist said most cases now are not reported to the state, because some people get their results through an at-home test, which doesnt have to be reported, or simply dont get tested at all.

Everyone in a county where the federally-determined risk level is medium should consider wearing a mask, Sidelinger said. Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties are at that risk level, as are Deschutes, Columbia and Benton counties. He also encouraged people who are unvaccinated, older, immunocompromised, at risk of severe disease or who live with anyone in those categories, to wear a mask.

The key marker of the severity of the current pandemic bump, hospitalizations, remains far below the peaks reached in either the omicron or delta waves. Thats expected to remain true through the peak, projected to hit 321 occupied beds by June 10. Hospitalizations approached 1,200 at the height of the delta wave. As of Tuesday, 255 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to Oregon Health Authority data.

OHA is optimistic that the overall number of Oregons hospitalized patients with COVID-19 will not exceed our hospital systems ability to care for them, Sidelinger said.

As for what happens after this wave is over, Sidelinger said he expects Oregon wont see sustained case growth through the summer thanks to immunity from recent infections and vaccinations and because people will be spending time outdoors.

But if new variants develop in Oregon, in other states or countries that come to Oregon, that could change as we move inside in the fall, Sidelinger said.

Fedor Zarkhin

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You will be exposed to the coronavirus, Oregon health officials say, though COVID-19 wave relatively mild - OregonLive