It’s been almost three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and although safety guidelines have been lifted and life is returning back to what it was before, COVID is still here and we’re still in a pandemic, according to experts. “Yes, we are still in a pandemic. The coronavirus has mutated again and cases are on the rise,” Gabrielle Einstein Morrow MD Medical Director, Emergency Department Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital and TeamHealth tells us. And other experts agree.
“COVID-19 is still a major health concern,” Tameem Alhayya MD, Chief of Department of Medicine and Family Practice at Beverly Hospital and Co-Founder and CEO of Sunrise Medical Associates, LLC states. “With average daily cases in the US over 35,000 and mortality ( number of deaths ) because of COVID-19 is over 300 daily. COVID-19 has been ranked among the top 3 causes of death in the US (except in the summer of 2021) since the start of the pandemic in early 2020,” Dr. Alhayya adds. “COVID-19 was the number one cause of death for people ages 45-84 years in January 2022.”
In addition to COVID cases rising in some areas, many are concerned about a winter surge and new variants. Dr. Thomas Yadegar, Pulmonologist and Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center says, “Over the past few years, we have seen COVID act as a typical respiratory virus that peaks in the winter. Further evidence can be elicited by observing the patterns in the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia, which recently experienced a tough COVID and influenza season. We experienced relatively mild flu seasons the past few years, attributed to masking requirements and travel restrictions. However, as these changes have reversed, we can anticipate higher influenza rates, along with likely co-infections between COVID and influenza.”
Being healthy is key to staying safe this winter and if you do get COVID, learning what the symptoms are helpful in identifying you have the virus so you can take the proper precautions. As always, please consult with your physician for medical advice. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.