“I would say that a handshake is a pretty low-risk thing you can do with respect to COVID,” he said. But evidence now shows that most coronavirus infections occur through airborne spread, said Stephen Kissler, research fellow in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. July 20: Predictions of the death of the handshake were premature (CBC)Īt the beginning of the pandemic, shaking hands was seen as a source of potential disease spread. “You might be able to begin slowly sort of reintegrating while still being mindful of your contact,” he said.
Some experts, like Stephen Kissler, research fellow in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, think it’s OK to gradually leave isolation even if you’re still testing positive using a rapid test-especially if you’re fully vaccinated, your symptoms have resolved, and you continue to mask.
The BA.5 variant appears to make some people continue to test positive for COVID for 10 days or longer. July 20: How Long Can You Test Positive for COVID? BA.5 Making Some Last Longer, Top Doc Says (NBC Chicago) He added that when COVID drove those levels even higher, it proved that America would “accept even more deaths compared to our already poor historical norms.” Even before the pandemic’s staggering death toll, America had “very successfully normalized to an extremely high level of death on the scale of what we experienced in the pandemic,” according to Justin Feldman, research associate at the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center of Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. has lagged behind its peers in terms of life expectancy and years of healthy life, and the pandemic exacerbated those problems, according to experts. July 21: America Was in an Early-Death Crisis Long Before COVID (The Atlantic)įor decades, the U.S. He noted that doses matter-four shots are better than three, and three better than two-and that antiviral treatments such as Paxlovid are also making a big difference. “In general, people in Biden’s and Trump’s age group are now doing so much better than they were as a result of vaccinations,” said William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology. The difference in the course of disease and treatment for COVID between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is stark, showing the incredible benefit of vaccines, according to experts. Trump: What a Difference Two Years Make for Treating COVID (Scientific American) July 25: Could Genetics Be the Key to Never Getting the Coronavirus? (The Atlantic)ĭyann Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases, quoted. This article describes a study by Catherine Arsenault, research scientist in the Department of Global Health and Population, and colleagues showing COVID’s damaging effect on health care globally, including declines in screenings for cancer, TB, HIV, and other diseases, as well as disruptions in maternal health services, care for chronic conditions, and vaccinations. July 25: How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare around the world (GAVI) He cited the rebound phenomenon among some people who’ve taken the antiviral drug Paxlovid, “where people will see that their symptoms seem to resolve and they may even test negative on a rapid test, but then a few days later symptoms and the virus come back.” But he added that a small number of people could be contagious for longer. Glimcher Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, said that 10 days is a useful rule of thumb for when people should no longer be contagious. July 26: How long is COVID infectious? What scientists know so far (Nature)Ī number of studies have shown that many people with COVID-19 remain infectious well into the second week after they first experience symptoms.
Phyllis Kanki, Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, noted that at-home rapid tests are very good at detecting the virus during the highest peak of virus replication-usually when a person is showing symptoms. July 27: Can You Use a Rapid At-Home COVID Test for BA.5? (Verywell Health)Įxperts say that rapid COVID tests can pick up Omicron variants but that people may need to take multiple tests, because sometimes, early on in infection, the amount of virus in the body may not yet be high enough for the tests to detect it. Here’s a selection of stories in which they offer comments and context: 2022 We’ll be updating this article on a regular basis. Chan School of Public Health experts have been speaking to a variety of media outlets and writing articles about the pandemic. In the wake of an outbreak of coronavirus that began in China in 2019, Harvard T.H. For the Harvard Chan community: Find the latest updates, guidance, useful information, and resources about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) here.