Infectious disease experts say many people are not taking the latest Covid-19 wave in the US seriously enough and are not getting vaccinated or using antiviral drugs when sick, despite a summer wave that was larger and came earlier than anticipated.
Epidemiologists are saying that while symptoms of this wave are more mild than earlier strains, the virus remains a threat – particularly for older adults and people with underlying health conditions.
In response, public health officials are urging people to get a booster now – unless they recently had Covid, in which case they should wait three to four months – and to take a rapid test when sick. And if they have Covid, they should ask their doctors about antiviral treatments.
“There is a ton of Covid out there,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. “If you’re experiencing any kind of symptoms, test yourself because you might benefit from getting medicine. At the very least, you can learn that you’re infected and stay home so you don’t give it to other people.”
Notably, the Covid viral activity in wastewater in August in the United States was almost twice as high as the same time last year and about the same as the peak of summer 2023, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Still, hospitalizations and deaths are a fraction of what they were in 2022.
“Every time someone gets sick, there is always a risk involved, but the fact that we haven’t seen a massive upswing in hospitalizations or deaths is what ultimately we look at because this virus isn’t going away,” Nuzzo said.
Justin Lessler, an epidemiology professor at the University of North Carolina, attributes the unexpectedly high wave to new variants that have “run away from our immune system a little faster than we expected” and to people being less cautious about the virus than in previous years.
When someone develops symptoms of Covid – such as fever, cough or sore throat – they should take a test, even if they are not worried about it, Lessler said.
“It’s more about courtesy now than direct public health impact,” Lessler said. That means considering “people who may be at high risk or more worried about the disease than others”.
The Biden administration recently announced that it would again make free Covid-19 tests available at the end of September. US households can order four Covid tests at Covidtests.gov.
Testing when you develop symptoms is also important because antiviral drugs like Paxlovid are most effective when taken early in the course of an illness. Despite the drugs’ benefits, studies have shown that they are underutilized.
“I think doctors, just like members of the public, have come to think of Covid as just one of those things, as opposed to something which can be responded to quickly and proactively with antivirals where appropriate,” said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Though the virus is not as dangerous as it was during the height of the pandemic, Covid can still cause severe symptoms.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved new Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. The epidemiologists recommend that people get the booster now rather than wait until closer to winter.
Hanage is concerned that “people will be not taking advantage of the available protection and that we will end up seeing more serious illness, more hospitalizations and more deaths than we need to”.
Nuzzo said she would not argue with younger people who decide that they are OK with potentially getting Covid, but she wants to make sure older adults who are at high risk get the vaccine.
“There is a clear benefit,” Nuzzo said.
As to what the Covid numbers could look like in the fall and winter, epidemiologists do not have definitive answers.
“I think there is a little chance it will be on the smaller side because the summer wave was so big, but that being said, we have not had a winter without a wave yet,” Lessler said. “I don’t see any reason that should change.”
