The COVID-19 virus continues to evolve. Not only have we used up a whole bunch of Greek letters during this pandemic, but we have extended variant names with suffixes, letters, numbers, and (maybe eventually) elvish. SARS-CoV-2 that we knew and hated early in 2020 has mutated repeatedly, to Delta, Omicron B.1.1.529, BA.1, BA1.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, and now BA.5. And it’s not done.
As long as there are unvaccinated adults and children, the virus will mutate. Like the common cold, but more severe, this coronavirus will extend itself forever and we will always be at risk. Currently in my home state of Ohio, not quite 60% are vaccinated. So your kids in school, you at work, and your dad in a nursing home are all at risk, and the unvaccinated are the Petri dishes for new strains.
I compare COVID to the common cold for a couple of reasons. A cold is a virus infection that primarily attacks the upper respiratory system, sinuses, nose, and eyes. It usually resolves in about a week, but can turn into a more serious bacterial infection. But some colds are also coronaviruses, and some are rhinoviruses, or adenoviruses.
There are over 200 strains of cold because, in the absence of a vaccine, it keeps mutating. You can’t get the same cold twice. Ever wonder why the cold you got last week was so much worse than the cold you had last spring? Different strains. Different strains create similar problems with different levels of severity. Ever wonder why babies always have runny noses and the elderly don’t? Because an 80-year-old already had 168 of the cold strains; babies are just starting.
Taking the lesson and the parallels between two coronaviruses, it’s easy to see how some of the COVID strains are more serious than others. Have you noticed that your cold infections really dropped during the worst of the COVID pandemic? I went nearly three years without a cold. But I’ve also been wearing a mask when I’m indoors with strangers.
I was on a conference call this week with the Ohio Department of Health, and they noted that only 60% of healthcare workers in Ohio SNFs are vaccinated. Nearly 90% of residents are vaccinated, but only 60% of staff are vaccinated, dropping to 55% nationally. The outrage over these numbers is nearly crippling. Because our staff members have heard all the mind-bending conspiracies about the life-saving vaccine, they’re reluctant to take it.
I know you heard about the infertility supposedly associated with the shot, but did you hear how the vaccinated are getting monkeypox? (That’s impossible.) Did you see the meme about how the vaccinated regret their shots, but the unvaccinated don’t? (So many are dead.) My favorite is that the lockdown in 2020 wasn’t for public health. It was so the “Deep State” (whatever that is) could retrieve all the surveillance birds, change their batteries, and no one would notice. This is an “info-demic” that spreads faster than the virus.
We know how viruses evolve. I hear people say, “Back when we were in the pandemic…” This is still a pandemic; it’s just not a lockdown. The Public Health Emergency continues, whether we ignore it or not. So how do we expect this pandemic to wind down?
In 1918, the Spanish Flu encompassed the globe and was the worst virus-induced source of death in recent history. Fifty million died, more than the death toll from WWI. More than the Black Plague of the 14th Century. The virus spread rapidly over two years, then went away. Or did it? We are still fighting this virus, but we’re fighting it with flu shots. That’s right, the flu shot you get annually is fighting the same deadly flu from 1918.
Going forward, as the pandemic becomes endemic, we will hopefully get a flu/COVID-combo shot annually from our pharmacies and protect ourselves and our patients. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and we will continue to see COVID at decreased levels and decreased severity. But we can’t drop the push to vaccinate. Sixty percent is good, but 100% is better.
