Covid Updates

The virus which influenced everyone in the past two years has seemed to diminish in its

presence. Cases and deaths of the coronavirus have decreased significantly worldwide. The

once-forgotten 'normal' is now a reality for everyone, or is it? The question of masks and

vaccination is still present for some and we are here to help you assess the situation. It is

essential to stay cautious by wearing masks and sanitizing as often as possible because

COVID-19 is still a problem.

Cases and deaths are going down, but this does not mean we are truly safe. Graphs that

show the trend of Covid cases have repeated patterns. Cases spike, then go down after two

weeks or so, and after a one-month recess, they go back up. From this pattern, it is safe to

assume that there will be another spike in cases soon. If we start to slack off on precautions, the

next time cases increase, it could last a long time and result in more hospitalizations. Right now,

the cases to hospitalization rate are lower than at the peak of the pandemic, which is a result of

people receiving vaccinations. After a certain amount of time, doctors predict that the virus will

be less of a threat because herd immunity is present in many more areas.

To explain herd immunity, it is the action of the majority of people in an environment

being immune to the virus through vaccinations or contracting the virus, protecting those who

are more at risk. People more at risk may include those who are immunocompromised, the

young, and the elderly. Those who choose not to get vaccinated qualify as being more at risk as

well. Because of the controversy of vaccines, complete herd immunity will happen in the future.

Nonetheless, once herd immunity against COVID-19 is attained, it will be safe to take certain

precautions.

Some precautions that will always stay, for example, are sanitization and receiving

seasonal vaccines. Booster shots are essentially just like the flu shots in this sense. And

because COVID is a rapidly mutating virus, vaccines are administered more frequently than flu

shots. People wearing masks even after cases are around 100 thousand per day is expected

due to safety reasons. We should also expect more people to become lenient even when some

rules have not changed due to comfort. This is your weekly update on how COVID-19 is

affecting civilians. And make sure to tune in next week to learn more.