Individuals nonetheless see COVID-19 as an ongoing public well being risk, despite the fact that the pandemic formally led to 2023, in line with a brand new HealthDay/Harris Ballot.
Almost 3 in 4 individuals (72%) agree COVID remains to be a critical public well being problem, together with greater than a 3rd (35%) who strongly agree, the ballot discovered.
COVID has settled into the kind of ongoing well being risk already posed by the seasonal flu, which had its flip as a pandemic again in 1918, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Schooling Middle on the Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia, mentioned.
“You’ll get hundreds of thousands of people hospitalized with influenza every year,” Offit informed HealthDay TV. “You’ll get tens of thousands of people who die every year from influenza. I think that’s what COVID is now. I think this virus will be with us for decades, if not longer.”
Individuals are also apt to answer any signs they could develop, with practically 3 in 4 (73%) saying they might take an at-home take a look at or go to a health care provider or pharmacy to get examined for COVID, the ballot says.
“That 73% number is higher than I would have guessed,” Offit mentioned.
Individuals with signs of COVID—fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nostril, physique aches—would do higher to remain house and take a fast take a look at, for everybody else’s sake, Offit mentioned.
Excessive-risk teams specifically ought to get examined, Offit added, in order that they’ll obtain antiviral Paxlovid to restrict the severity of their an infection.
“Although the pandemic is over, I think we have to understand that this is a serious infection,” Offit mentioned. “I wish we felt the same about flu, which is also a serious infection, which people should also get vaccinated and take seriously, but we often don’t.”
Nonetheless, Offit additionally mentioned that he does not agree with suggestions from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) that everybody 6 months and older get a COVID vaccine.
“We’re one of only two countries that do that,” Offit famous. “Most countries—like countries in Western Europe, Australia, the World Health Organization, Scandinavian countries—all pretty much target high-risk groups, meaning people who have obesity or chronic lung, chronic kidney disease or neurological diseases, people who are elderly really defined as greater than 75 and people who are pregnant.”
“I think those are the groups most likely to be hospitalized if they were infected with this virus,” Offit added.
The U.S. pointers are in all probability as broad as they’re because of a “messaging issue,” Offit mentioned.
“The thinking is that if we recommend it for everybody, then those high-risk groups are more likely to get it,” Offit mentioned. “But I mean, we do have other targeted recommendations. I agree with most other countries in this world, which is we should target high-risk groups.”
The HealthDay/Harris Ballot additionally discovered that:
Of these unlikely to check for COVID, about 42% would not take a look at if their signs weren’t critical or extreme and 28% would assume they’ve another an infection or sickness.
Two in 3 (66%) individuals who would take a look at for COVID cite the will to guard family and friends, and greater than half (56%) say they might need to be certain that it is not another an infection.
Greater than 4 in 5 (85%) mentioned in the event that they examined constructive for COVID, they might quarantine and put on a masks.
Nonetheless, greater than half (56%) do not know the present really useful quarantine interval for COVID.
The CDC now recommends that folks with COVID steer clear of others till at the least 24 hours after their fever has ended and their signs even have improved.
The advice additionally asks that folks masks and maintain their distance from others for 5 days afterward.
Extra data:
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra about COVID-19.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Quotation:
Individuals nonetheless contemplate COVID main public well being risk (2025, January 30)
retrieved 30 January 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-01-americans-covid-major-health-threat.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
