These COVID “facts” are no longer true

It’s a long pandemic and COVID is still powerful.But on the way,at least I learned a lot.There are many other ideas we once had (or still have), just as we stopped sticking to hand washing. COVID that needs to be updated. Here are some big names.

Natural infections no longer provide complete protection

If you got a COVID, there was a time when you could consider it protected from getting it again. Even if only slightly It’s been a few months since I recovered. Unfortunately, It doesn’t seem to apply to the strains that are currently circulating, Including BA.4 and BA.5, both are highly contagious variants of Omicron, especially Even people who have previously recovered from COVID are good at causing infection.

That said, the situation isn’t as dire as some recent headlines suggest. One article Claimed before it was fixedIts reinfection gives “no immunity”, but this is wrong..I also quoted the report Omicron infection that occurs immediately after delta infection, suggestion That meant You can infect Omicron many times, but this is not the same.

What we do conduct I know that even if I recover from the previous virus strain, I can get sick again from another strain.Fortunately, the previous infection was probably at least A few protection.One preprint is that even if you can still get sick, you May be Pretty good protection against terrible disease.. And the better news is that vaccines are still effective against serious illnesses.

“Your mask protects me, my mask protects you” is outdated

Yeah, that was a cute idea when people were actually wearing their damn masks.It was also the limit of our understanding It’s just the beginning of a pandemic.We knew that the mask was pretty good at blocking the incoming droplets out Of our mouth and nose of.. You can see what they are doing.

This is good news when going to crowded places where others are not wearing masks. A mask that fits well, especially if it is made of a high quality filter material such as N95. Do a lot to keep you safe no matter what others are doing..

Nothing special about 6 feet

The ubiquitous 6-foot rule for social distance was based on the splash zone of respiratory droplets. Your breath or speech can send a lump of saliva that is flying about 3 feet. Coughing and sneezing can go further, so 6 feet seemed to work pretty well as a rule of thumb.

But then I learned that the coronavirus is pretty good at levitating. If you’re in a closed space with others, the virus is probably in the air, even if it doesn’t reach within 6 feet of anyone. Keeping distance is probably a little helpful, but it’s not enough to think you’re safe.

Expected protection for vaccines has changed

This was changed and then reverted. When the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved, the FDA had only data showing how well it prevented severe or symptomatic illness, not whether it prevented people from carrying the virus first. did.

After a while, it looked like a vaccine Did it Prevents people from getting infected, even if they are asymptomatic. We have become accustomed to thinking that vaccines are basically invincible. I was advised to take off my mask. However The virus had other ideas. Now, even if they are fully vaccinated (and even with the recommended booster immunity), they are very likely to get infected and even get sick.

The bottom line is that vaccines don’t prevent us from catching the virus, To do Reduces the chance of getting a life-threatening illness.Therefore, vaccines and their boosters It’s worth it, but don’t want to avoid other protections.