Massachusetts doctor explains why COVID-19 cases are on the rise

Massachusetts doctor explains why COVID-19 cases are on the rise

Updated: August 6, 2024, 5:04 PM EDT

Arson, causing bodily injury. We're bringing you the fifth health news tonight. You might be surprised, but it seems like we're going to talk about COVID, because right now it feels like everyone knows someone who has COVID-19. Dr. T, as you can see, the number of cases is going up, not just in Massachusetts, but across the United States, even at the Olympics. This is true. I mean, the numbers are going up. And in our newsroom too. We're no exception. We're not immune. We're joined by Dr. Todd Allen, Chief of Infectious Diseases at South Shore Health. So, question number one. Putting aside that we're still talking about COVID, let's start with the data. What are we seeing? Okay. We have a new variant called KP311. The bottom line is that COVID is prone to mutating. We're seeing an increase in cases in the United States. In our state's hospitals, we've had about 10 to 11 hospitalized patients over the past month, and it's not really going up or down. It's pretty stable. But as you said, we also have 40 athletes at the Olympics right now who have COVID.So, we're seeing a surge in about 84 countries. But the good news is, although the number of cases is increasing, they don't seem to be getting more severe. That's what I wanted to say. I mean, it's not going to knock you down. To be honest, some people my age say, “I was really unconscious for like 40 hours,” right? For individuals, I think you can go from asymptomatic to being hospitalized and in intensive care, but it's happening less frequently because we're building up herd immunity. We don't need to go. Should we go? Should we do masks and paxlovid and thorough quarantine again, or not? Right. Absolutely not. Masks for everyone. Masks are still effective for people who need to be handled appropriately in a crowded environment. Paxlovid? Absolutely. If you're high-risk and you get COVID. You got it. But it doesn't work for the standard person. It doesn't work for most people, right? So we're learning to live with COVID and we have to, right? So when do you think we're going to see a decline in cases and cases? Right, we're starting to see a decline in wastewater. So, we think that hopefully the peak is over and it will start to come down soon. That's good news. But what we've seen over the last four years is that COVID has had two peaks. You know, the winter peak, which is typical for respiratory viruses like influenza, but you also have a summer peak that's specific to COVID. Let's face the facts. You know, COVID has not had a break this summer. It's been shown that COVID can spread for more than a season, which is unusual for a respiratory virus. I can't believe that after all these years we're still talking about COVID, but obviously we have to learn to live with it. We need to talk about the vaccine again. I think especially for high-risk people. Chronic lung, heart, kidney, diabetes, immunocompromised, those patients? That's right. Not only do you need to get it once a year, but the CDC recommends two doses a year. And generally speaking, if you get COVID, we recommend that you wait typically three to four months before getting your next vaccine. Once you get the vaccine again, you should wait at least four days. That's the advice to patients. We're telling patients to do that. That's right. Especially if you fall into that risk category. So if you're standard risk, healthy, young, you know, I understand the fact that a lot of people aren't getting the booster shots right. But for those people who are most at risk, even if it doesn't prevent COVID, I think it will prevent severe disease. That's one of the reasons why we haven't seen a significant increase in hospitalizations. It's not a surprise. But when it comes to the Olympic participants in Paris, what do you have? It's a cohort. That's right. That's right. All of the people. We're not seeing an increase in severe disease, but we expected this, right? That's what's happening.

Massachusetts doctor explains why COVID-19 cases are on the rise

Updated: August 6, 2024, 5:04 PM EDT

As COVID-19 cases surge in dozens of countries around the world, Dr. Todd Ellerin, Chief of Infectious Diseases at South Shore Health, provides the latest infection data.

Needham, Massachusetts —

As COVID-19 cases surge in dozens of countries around the world, Dr. Todd Ellerin, Chief of Infectious Diseases at South Shore Health, provides the latest infection data.