While most everyone I know (except DW and I) have had Covid, nobody I know has had it within the past 6 months. Everyone I know who did get Covid (except 3 elderly people with comorbidities) had mild symptoms. Almost everyone I know who had Covid were not vaccinated when they contacted it.
Not much recent local news or talk about Covid. Usually only see masks in a dr’s office. Doesn’t seem to be any Covid around here lately.
That said, I am also very thankful for the vaccines. Around here, it seems like the vaccines have knocked down the spread of Covid significantly.
But I still would consider canceling travel to an area where Covid was rampant.
Seems like every time we think its getting safe out there we start hearing more news like this on Covid....Saw similar report on the ABC evening news tonight...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/healt...isk/index.html
From CNN
Repeatedly catching Covid-19 appears to increase the chances that a person will face new and sometimes lasting health problems after their infection, according to the first study on the health risks of reinfection.
The study, which is based on the health records of more than 5.6 million people treated in the VA Health System, found that, compared with those with just one Covid-19 infection, those with two or more documented infections had more than twice the risk of dying and three times the risk of being hospitalized within six months of their last infection. They also had higher risks for lung and heart problems, fatigue, digestive and kidney disorders, diabetes and neurologic problems.
The findings come as a fresh wave of coronavirus variants, notably Omicron’s BA.5, have become dominant in the United States and Europe, causing cases and hospitalizations to rise once again. BA.5 caused about 54% of cases nationwide last week, doubling its share of Covid-19 transmission over the past two weeks, according to data posted Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BA.5 carries key mutations that help it escape antibodies generated by both vaccines and prior infection, leaving many people vulnerable to reinfection.
Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, led the research, which was posted as a preprint ahead of peer review. He said he decided to do it after watching reinfections become more and more common among his own patients.
“If you asked me about reinfection maybe a year and a half ago, I would tell you that maybe I have a patient here or there, but it’s really, really rare,” Al-Aly said. That’s not true anymore, though.
“So we asked a simple question that if you got Covid before and now you’re on your second infection, does this really add risk? And the simple answer is that it does.”
bad news..Local...
Nine of Arizona’s 15 counties are now in a high level of COVID-19 community transmission.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coconino, Yavapai, Mohave, Apache, Navajo and others have all experienced rising infections in recent weeks.
The CDC recommends all people in areas of high transmission wear masks indoors in public and take additional precautions.
The most recent virus report released on Friday showed cases were on the rise after a slight decline since early June.
Statewide, COVID infections have increased since early May but still remain well below the pandemic’s all-time high point last January.
More than 16,500 cases have been confirmed in Arizona in the last week.
I try to stop/stay at different hotels and eat at different restaurants along the way each time to get the the local flavors. Seems to make it more interesting, YMMV
