Best practices for those living or working with vulnerable populations
Similar advice applies to anyone who lives or works with vulnerable populations, like the elderly or immunocompromised.
The first and most important recommendation, Fishman said, is to stay home when you’re sick to avoid infecting others.
If you’re not sure whether or not you’re well enough to break isolation, do several rounds of testing.
“You should test at least twice, two days in a row, 48 hours — maybe three days in a row,” Fishman said. “And during that at-risk period, if you’re not certain that there is an infection present, if you’re not certain if you have COVID, definitely stay away from people who don’t have a normal immune system or who are very elderly or who have other underlying diseases.”
He added that if you’re one of the rare cases who tests positive but have no symptoms, you should go by your test results.
“If you test positive for COVID, it means you’re shedding virus,” he said. “So if you have a positive test, I would stay inside and isolate.”
Long COVID and prevention
At this point, most people have developed a base level of immunity to COVID-19, which means a decrease in how long and how sick you become. But there’s another risk to worry about — long COVID, the symptoms of which can, in some cases, last for years.
“Long COVID is still a risk of any COVID infection,” Fishman said. “It’s difficult to quantify the risk. And we don’t know whether the risk changes or is different for these different strains that we see.”
What we do know, he added, is that many people do get better from long COVID — eventually.
“It can take six months or nine months or sometimes longer, but people do recover from long COVID,” Fishman said.
One way of decreasing your risk of long COVID, he added, is to take Paxlovid.
Better yet, is to avoid getting sick altogether — and for that, recommendations remain the same as always.
“My take-home PSA would be stay home if you’re sick, clean your hands, cover your cough,” Fishman said. “And while we are still experiencing peak activity, consider masking in crowded environments. And I think the riskiest in our area now is probably public transportation. When you’re outside in the open, it’s safe; there’s good air circulation. If you’re in a contained, crowded environment, the risk of acquiring the infection is higher.”
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