Reassuringly, older, non-expired checks do nonetheless appear to be selecting up new variants of the virus (though it’s value taking into consideration that we don’t know the way future variants would possibly evolve). However they’ve by no means been 100% correct, and so they nonetheless aren’t. (Antonio reviewed a number of of the checks again in 2021 and had combined outcomes.)
A research printed a few days in the past discovered that symptomatic individuals ought to actually take two checks, 48 hours aside. And individuals who suppose they may have been contaminated however don’t have signs ought to take a look at 3 times.
A few months in the past, the WHO declared that covid was not a public well being emergency of worldwide concern. Which sounds nice, till you understand it’s as a result of it’s now “a longtime and ongoing well being situation.” Oh, and it’s nonetheless a pandemic.
There can nonetheless be enormous spikes in case numbers, like final winter, when the WHO recorded over 44 million instances on December 19. And whereas deaths have fortunately declined, they do nonetheless occur. The latest information we now have means that 497 individuals died of covid within the week ending July 3. Deaths have been a lot larger in January of this 12 months, with 20,000 to 40,000 each week. Once more, these are simply the recorded covid deaths. The actual numbers are prone to be larger.
Personally, I’m not as anxious about covid-19 as I used to be through the early days of the pandemic. That’s partly as a result of I’m absolutely vaccinated and have already had covid at the least twice. I’m additionally lucky sufficient to not have a situation that makes me weak to extreme illness.
However the elephant within the room is lengthy covid—one other hotly contested matter. (There was a very intense debate surrounding lengthy covid in kids, as I coated right here.) The situation continues to trigger lasting ache and struggling to an unknown however vital variety of individuals. Scientists imagine it’s potential to develop the situation after any an infection with the coronavirus.
So I’m holding my unexpired checks for now, simply in case.
Learn extra from Tech Assessment’s archive
mRNA vaccines helped us via the pandemic. However they might additionally assist defend in opposition to many different infectious illnesses, provide common safety in opposition to flu, and even deal with most cancers, as I coated in a bit exploring what’s subsequent for this expertise.
Reassuringly, older, non-expired checks do nonetheless appear to be selecting up new variants of the virus (though it’s value taking into consideration that we don’t know the way future variants would possibly evolve). However they’ve by no means been 100% correct, and so they nonetheless aren’t. (Antonio reviewed a number of of the checks again in 2021 and had combined outcomes.)
A research printed a few days in the past discovered that symptomatic individuals ought to actually take two checks, 48 hours aside. And individuals who suppose they may have been contaminated however don’t have signs ought to take a look at 3 times.
A few months in the past, the WHO declared that covid was not a public well being emergency of worldwide concern. Which sounds nice, till you understand it’s as a result of it’s now “a longtime and ongoing well being situation.” Oh, and it’s nonetheless a pandemic.
There can nonetheless be enormous spikes in case numbers, like final winter, when the WHO recorded over 44 million instances on December 19. And whereas deaths have fortunately declined, they do nonetheless occur. The latest information we now have means that 497 individuals died of covid within the week ending July 3. Deaths have been a lot larger in January of this 12 months, with 20,000 to 40,000 each week. Once more, these are simply the recorded covid deaths. The actual numbers are prone to be larger.
Personally, I’m not as anxious about covid-19 as I used to be through the early days of the pandemic. That’s partly as a result of I’m absolutely vaccinated and have already had covid at the least twice. I’m additionally lucky sufficient to not have a situation that makes me weak to extreme illness.
However the elephant within the room is lengthy covid—one other hotly contested matter. (There was a very intense debate surrounding lengthy covid in kids, as I coated right here.) The situation continues to trigger lasting ache and struggling to an unknown however vital variety of individuals. Scientists imagine it’s potential to develop the situation after any an infection with the coronavirus.
So I’m holding my unexpired checks for now, simply in case.
Learn extra from Tech Assessment’s archive
mRNA vaccines helped us via the pandemic. However they might additionally assist defend in opposition to many different infectious illnesses, provide common safety in opposition to flu, and even deal with most cancers, as I coated in a bit exploring what’s subsequent for this expertise.
