Dr Robin’s Covid-19 Updates
Breath, Vapor and Spit
Coping with the Great Unmasking
Covid cases continue to crawl upwards in early May but not hellaciously in most places — not system-crushing. Since home testing has increased so much it’s probably worse than it looks, but still, hospitalizations are stable, too. So it’s not super-dooper terrible. But it’s not over.
There’s some new “subvariants,” still BA2, still Omicron, but now newer versions. We will have to answer exactly the same questions again about the new subvariants:
— are they more transmissible? (probably yes)
— are they more lethal? (probably no)
— will our vaccines continue to protect us? (probably yes, from severe disease)
I feel so sorry for our poor scientists, having to get up from the kitchen table and go answer all the same questions over and over and over about a new variant and a new sub variant and then a new sub-sub-sub variant. It’s like the ultimate scientific Groundhog Day.
I also feel sympathy for all the lawyers and public health people trying to figure out what the heck to do about masks on transit.
One thing that’s important to remember in all this is that “public health” involves making decisions or guidelines about…
