MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

This can be a reality. COVID instances are up once more. The CDC is describing it as an uptick after an extended length of declining charges. There could also be a brand new omicron variant on the upward push. So how can we make sense of what’s going on on this fourth summer time of dwelling with COVID? NPR’s Pien Huang is right here to provide an explanation for. Hi there, Pien.

PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hi there, Mary Louise.

KELLY: Hello. I am depressed to also be speaking about this. How are we speaking about this? It appears like this isn’t a wave essentially. What are you calling it?

HUANG: Yeah. I imply, it is – I am in the similar boat as you. It isn’t a wave, however I am calling it extra of a summer time swell. And it is appearing up within the nationwide information from wastewater surveillance, which – the place you’ll be able to see that the virus ranges were going up previously month in each area. Here is how Dr. Celine Gounder put it. She’s an infectious illness specialist and a senior fellow at KFF.

CELINE GOUNDER: Yeah. This isn’t actually a surge, and so it isn’t brushing aside that COVID is a risk. It is that you need to know when to sound the alarms and when to not.

HUANG: So by way of the CDC numbers this week, there is been a 12.5% building up in folks getting hospitalized with COVID. However well being professionals do rigidity that that also signifies that hospitalizations are close to an rock bottom. So Gounder says that that is without a doubt one thing to look at, however it isn’t one thing to panic over. Whilst the dangers are extra critical for some, there are equipment which can be to be had to assist.

KELLY: The hazards are extra critical for some. Who will have to be extra involved now?

HUANG: Yeah. Yeah. So there are some folks that experience an actual higher possibility of hospitalization and demise, despite the fact that they have got been vaccinated. So this comprises the aged, people who find themselves immunocompromised, individuals who reside in nursing houses, people who find themselves pregnant, babies. And now as instances are going up, they may need to take into consideration doing issues that would possibly mitigate the dangers, like keeping off crowds, perhaps dressed in a masks when they are grocery buying groceries or touring, the use of air filters in rooms, spending extra time out of doors if they are going to hang around with folks. And, in fact, you realize, the individuals who reside with them, discuss with them, spend time with them – they may also need to be taking precautions, too.

KELLY: And this new variant we discussed – what can we learn about it?

HUANG: So the brand new variant that individuals are speaking about now is named EG.5. It is a subvariant of omicron. In order that way it is nonetheless actually carefully similar to what is been circulating since early 2022, and it is turn into extra dominant during the last few months. So at the moment it is estimated to be accountable in 17% of instances. Here is how Dr. Mandy Cohen, head of the CDC, talked in regards to the variants this week. She spoke at the podcast “In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt.”

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “IN THE BUBBLE WITH ANDY SLAVITT”)

MANDY COHEN: They are nonetheless prone to our vaccines. They are nonetheless prone to our drugs. They are nonetheless picked up by way of the exams. So all of our equipment nonetheless paintings because the virus adjustments. However we are going to must stay staring at it.

KELLY: Pien, talking of the vaccine, will have to all of us pass get a shot now to shore up coverage?

HUANG: Smartly, the overall recommendation from professionals at the moment is if you’ll be able to, it might make sense to carry off for some other month or two. In order that’s for the reason that booster that is to be had lately is in reality an outdated method from final yr. There is a new model of the COVID vaccine coming this autumn in overdue September, early October, and that is the reason the person who goals more recent variants.

KELLY: So simply in short, it appears like we would possibly need to dangle off.

HUANG: Yeah, precisely. I imply, we predict that there is going to be a real surge in the chillier months. So in the event you wait to get the up to date booster this autumn, you are going to be higher safe heading into the vacation season.

KELLY: NPR’s Pien Huang. Thanks.

HUANG: You might be welcome.

Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Seek advice from our website online phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.

NPR transcripts are created on a hurry cut-off date by way of an NPR contractor. This article is probably not in its ultimate shape and is also up to date or revised at some point. Accuracy and availability would possibly range. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.