Progress Seen in COVID-19 War

We’re all experiencing COVID fatigue. Facial expressions and smiles are hidden. This will have profound effects on the current generation of children.

Like all other pandemics, this too shall pass. The silver lining of the highly contagious Omicron variant is that we are speeding towards some higher level of herd immunity. The Omicron COVID-19 variant is still making people quite sick, especially the unvaccinated, at a rate of five times greater than the vaccinated. The good news is that there are fewer ICU admissions in vaccinated people with 85% of hospital admissions being the unvaccinated.

The NCAA Medical Advisory Group published a statement saying individuals within 90 days of a documented COVID-19 infection fall within the equivalent of fully vaccinated. This will open the door for other organizations to consider natural immunity as fully vaccinated. How long protection lasts from natural immunity has yet to be finalized. A blood test for spike protein antibody titers may be helpful in following immunity levels.

The good news is that the GlaxoSmithKline monoclonal antibody developed by Dr. George Scangos, Ph.D. at Vir Biotechnology works well against Delta and Omicron. New oral antivirals are slowly making their way to pharmacies which will be a great step towards emerging safely from this pandemic. Think positive, test negative.

Peter Michalos, MD is associate professor of clinical ophthalmology, Columbia University VP&S; past president of medical staff/chief of surgery, Southampton Hospital; chairman, Hamptons Health Society; and a Southampton resident.