The coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing across the United States and the world. In fact, the seven-day average for daily COVID-19 cases hovered around 59,000 cases per day last week, a sign that a significant portion of people is still getting infected with the virus.
What to know: The omicron variant — specifically the BA.2 variant of omicron — is the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating throughout the world right now, per Newsweek.
- There are a number of ways people are getting sick from omicron right now, including high-risk complications that make patients vulnerable for COVID-19.
Yes, but: There are multiple reasons you could be infected with COVID-19 right now.
- For example, being maskless in high-risk environments can make you likely to get the omicron variant, experts said. And not getting vaccinated could lead to infection, too.
What they’re saying: “There is still a lot we don’t know, especially as the new variants continue to emerge,” said Dr. Carlos Oliveira, Yale Medicine pediatric infectious diseases specialist. “There could be spikes in (coronavirus) transmission for a variety of reasons.”
- “I hesitate to say that we are approaching a post-COVID world when so many are still being ravaged by this virus,” said Dr. Sheela Shenoi, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. “If there is anything we should have learned, it is that we are all interconnected; what happens in one part of the world affects everybody.”
What to do: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new tool called the “COVID-19 County Check” that helps you see the risk level in your county, allowing you to find the best way to stay safe.