Judy: In year three of the
pandemic, most Americans have
turned to a sense of some
normalcy but the virus is still
disrupting daily life.
The U.S. Is recording roughly
130,000 new cases per day and
deaths are on the rise with an
average now of more than 430 a
day.
We reached out to viewers for
their latest questions about
risk and safety and we get some
answers from Caitlin, an
epidemiologist from the
university of Texas.
She writes a newsletter on sub
stack.
Welcome back to the newshour.
Let's plunge into these
questions.
Sophie from New York City
writes, is there a definitive
answer to how long after you
have covid you can continue to
test positive on an antigen home
test?
Is it worth testing to get out
of isolation or is there no
value in that?
>> We have seen really strong
evidence that an omicron
infection last about eight to 10
days.
Someday -- some people will be
infectious for less if you are
vaccinated.
The vaccine helps you clear the
virus faster.
Some will be infectious for even
longer than 10 days.
You won't really know unless you
test using an at-home antigen
test.
These tests are really great at
telling you if you are
infectious or not.
They are specifically great
using the test to exit isolation
to ensure you are not contagious
and transmitting to others.
Judy: This is James from port
Angeles, Washington.
When is it safe for me, and
immunocompromised person, to be
massless within six feet of a
vaccinated and boosted person
who has tested positive for
covid?
>> This is a really good
question and I think it lies on
leveraging these tools we have
like the rapid antigen test.
If that friend is positive on an
at-home antigen, I would be
comfortable once they turn
negative.
Because you are high-risk, I
would make sure they test
negative twice within 12 to 24
hours to ensure.
And if the person is on paxlovid
, we see a phenomenon called
rebounding.
They could turn negative and
then positive a few days later.
You want to ensure that that
doesn't happen with your friend
before seeing them.
Judy: This question is from
Scott Cummings.
When do I need my second
booster?
I am a 32-year-old teacher.
>> Such a good question, Scott.
The fda was trying to decide if
those under 50 needed a second
booster or not before fall.
It looks like they are not going
to be authorizing that second
booster.
All of us under 50 will have to
wait for when the omicron
specific vaccine comes out.
If you had not had your booster
for a while and you haven't been
recently and acted, there's not
great protection against
infection with the vaccine
alone.
We really need to mask up right
now especially during the surge.
It's important to know that the
one booster does really well
reducing hospitalization and
death for those under 50.
So you can be considered a
confident in your first booster
preventing severe disease.
Judy: This is from Elizabeth
zube.
If one gets covid, does taking
antiviral or monoclonal antibody
treatment reduce the risk of
contracting long covid?
>> This is a really big question
in research right now.
Beyond vaccination, it is
unclear if early treatments like
antivirals have an effect on
long covid.
It helps slow the replication of
the virus and reduces severe
disease.
In theory, it may reduce the
severity of long covid.
It's important to recognize long
covid is not always associated
with severe disease.
Studies show that a
symptomatically people --
asymptomatic people can have
long covid.
It's hard to know without that
robust scientific evidence.
Judy: This is from Rachel L.
As a family, we have kept our
risk low.
Our two-year-old is getting
vaccinated then we are
struggling with what activities
are low risk, moderate risk, or
high-risk.
Are they the same as they were a
year ago?
>> I am in this area right now
where my two little girls are
getting their second dose of the
vaccine, finally.
If everyone is fully vaccinated,
you have a really good bubble
around you right now.
The people I worry about who are
not fully vaccinated, especially
those over 65.
If you're going to see parents
or great-grandparents, it's
important you don't just rely on
the back in but also do the
antigen testing and use masks if
you are in a high-risk area.
Ensure that you do break
transmission chains.
Judy: We have one more question
for you about monkeypox.
He wrote a column today
comparing covid-19 to monkeypox.
Similarities and differences.
Tell us what lessons you came
away with after looking at the
two.
>> It is natural for us to
compare one public health
disease to another.
The similarities are that we
don't have the best public
health infrastructure right now.
There is a lot of misinformation
being circulated and there are
still a lot of answers we don't
know.
But the difference is -- this is
a very different virus.
It's not transmitted through the
air.
It is transmitted through close
contact which means we can
contain it if we act fast.
We need to make sure that window
isn't closing.
We need to do all we can to
contain this before it
establishes itself as another
health risk in our repertoire.
Judy: A lot more information
needs to be spread about
monkeypox.
Thank you so much for joining