One thing that remains constant about the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is always changing. The big news this week is the emergence of the BA.5 variant, which has become the dominant strain in the US and is spreading rapidly. These are signs that you have the BA.5 version of COVID. Read on to learn more—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t forget to check out these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID,
It is well known that each successive COVID variant has been more contagious than the previous. But BA.5 is exceptionally so, and appears to be by far the most efficient at evading the protection of vaccines and previous infections. This week, NBC News reported that BA.4 and BA.5 are nearly three times less sensitive to antibodies from existing COVID vaccines than Omicron’s original version. So far, BA.5 is responsible for about 54 percent of infections in the US.
The ability to snake around BA.5’s prior immunity means we may be on the cusp of a “re-infection wave”, as the Atlantic put it this week, “Not only is it more contagious, but your prior immunity doesn’t count as much as it used to,” says Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told NPR on Monday. “And that means the old one saw that, ‘I just had COVID a month ago, and so I have COVID immunity superpowers, I’m not going to get it again’ – which I don’t have now.”
NBC 5 Chicago reported that according to statistics in the UK – where BA.5 is already the dominant strain – the most common symptoms of BA.5 are runny nose, sore throat, headache, persistent cough and fatigue. in the UK independent This week, a doctor said one unusual symptom that is common with BA.5 is night sweats.
The CDC has not changed its list of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, which include:
- fever or chills
- cough
- shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- fatigue
- muscle or body pain
- Headache
- new loss of taste or smell
- sore throat
- congested or runny nose
- vomiting or nausea
- Diarrhea
Symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus. Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms, and even people with mild cases of COVID have developed “long COVID” symptoms that persist for weeks or months after the initial COVID infection. Huh. aAnd to protect yourself and the lives of others, don’t visit any of these 35 places you’re most likely to catch COVID,
Michael Martin
Michael Martin is a New York City-based writer and editor whose health and lifestyle content has also been published on Beachbody and OpenFit. Eat This, Not That! A contributing writer for New York, he has also been published in Architectural Digest, Interview and many more. read more