Covid 3.0

Crickets from the feds and the City.

I took my final Paxlovid pill last night.

I have now tested negative twice in 48 hours.

I think I may be done with my third case of Covid since the start of the pandemic.

On our recent holiday flights from Chicago to New York and back I was masked conscientiously. And I’m vaccinated for Covid, flu and RSV.

But Anne and I were the only ones who were masked.

Masks and vaccinating are no guarantee, of course. For five days I was sick with a mild cold and some other symptoms. And as a 75 year-old with some underlying immune issues I am grateful for the vaccines and Paxlovid even though I have gotten Covid three times now.

The Neighborhood Epidemiologist, Katelyn Jetelina reports:

70% effectiveness against hospitalization (preprint; Netherlands; among 60+ year-olds previously vaccinated).

Another study found significant added protection for (at least) 30 days against emergency department use, outpatient use, and hospitalization. (Kaiser; among those over 18 years.)

Why does this matter? If you’re up-to-date on vaccines, you can be confident it’s providing additional protection.

This week I have been hearing from all sorts of folks who have been hit by this recent rise in infections.

Yet there appears no sense of urgency or concern from those in positions of authority.

Ever since the Biden administration declared the pandemic over the federal government appears to have washed their hands of Covid.

I miss those weekly conversations with Chicago’s Dr. Allison Arwady who led the city’s response to the pandemic but was unceremoniously fired when Mayor Johnson came into office.

The pandemic is far from over, as evidenced by the rapid rise to global dominance of the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2. 

By measuring wastewater levels, JN.1 is now associated with the second-biggest wave of infections in the United States, after omicron.

Two million Americans are getting infected each day.

It’s crickets from the White House on COVID though.

And not much from City Hall.

They add to the false sense that the pandemic is behind us when cases, including deaths, are on the rise.