Covid keeps mutating, gaining new abilities to infect us while evading our immune systems.
Yes, you can catch Covid outside. Pay attention to air circulation. Infection can spread downwind of a contaminated area.
You can catch Covid outside while having a conversation, in a crowded stadium, or at a music festival. You can catch Covid if you attend a crowded outdoor gathering where people are eating and drinking without masks. You can catch Covid outside if you’re gathered in a place with partitions or ceilings that obstruct air circulation.
A study in JAMA Pediatrics found that young children carry up to 100 times more virus in their noses and throats than adults. 70 percent of household transmission begins with a child. It’s more possible than ever to catch Covid, whether you are indoors or outside.
Covid causes brain damage, heart damage, and blood vessel damage. It can cause long term, permanent damage to your immune system. This damage often goes undetected for months, until someone has a sudden stroke, heart attack, or a bad case of pneumonia.
Today’s Covid virus is not the same as the one that began the pandemic in 2020. The original Wuhan strain of Covid-19 had a reproductive rate of around 3.3, meaning that each infected person infected about 3.3 other people. Delta’s reproductive rate is around 5.1. Omicron has a reproductive rate of 9.5.
The latest Covid subvariants have a reproductive rate of 18.6, equal to that of measles, the world’s most infectious viral disease. New subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5 also have the ability to dodge antibodies from both vaccines and prior infection.
Together, we can reduce the spread. Limit the number of attendees at gatherings, and make sure guests are vaccinated, have recently tested negative, and are symptom-free. If an outdoor event is crowded, masking is a good idea.
Read the full article here
