| Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with a revised metric for determining community coronavirus levels. Instead of relying solely on infection numbers, they are now factoring in covid-19 hospitalization and hospital capacity. As I wrote last week, I think this new system provides the right information for policymakers at this point in the pandemic, when we have dramatically declining virus levels due to vaccination and recent infection. In addition, it offers an easier-to-use starting point for Americans to assess their individual risk and what protective measures they wish to keep using, especially as we resume travel and other long-delayed activities. Think of the CDC's new color-coded tracker as you would a weather forecast. When you're planning how many layers to wear and whether to pack an umbrella, you check the weather where you are. If you're going on a trip, you want to see the conditions at your destination. Even if you aren't going far, you'd still look, because it could be sunny at home but raining an hour away. Here's an example of how to use the tracker. Where I live, Baltimore City, conditions are good: The community coronavirus level is low, or green. Where I work, Washington, D.C., is the same. In these areas, as a generally healthy and fully vaccinated and boosted person, I'd be comfortable resuming indoor dining and removing my mask in conference rooms. Of course, I'd continue to mask in the hospital and where masks are required, such as the train station and airport. This weekend, my family plans to visit friends in Montgomery County, Md., and Fairfax County, Va. Both areas are green. I will be relaxed in both locations and would be fine with my little kids spending time indoors, unmasked, with our friends' families. But it would be different if we were going to, say, Albemarle County, Va., which is currently mapped in orange — a high coronavirus level. If we went there now, I'd continue dining outdoors only and don a high-quality (N95, KN95 or KF94) mask in indoor crowded spaces. I probably wouldn't have my kids go unmasked without other precautions, such as testing prior to getting together with other families. What about the in-between, yellow areas? This is where people should use their own determination of risk. Someone who is immunocompromised should take additional precautions, such as masking indoors. Others could decide that they are willing to assume the risk of covid-19 and opt not to mask. Throughout the pandemic, I've been writing on how people's comfort with various activities depends on the circumstances of virus transmission, as well as their own risk tolerance and the value of the activities to them. The new CDC tracker offers an important tool to better understand the dynamics of covid-19 based on where people live, work and socialize. I plan on consulting it regularly, just as I do the weather forecast. And just like the weather forecast, we know that the conditions of the virus can change rapidly, and we should be ready to ramp up and down our own protective measures accordingly. | | | My latest column | | | Ask Dr. Wen
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"I love live music but have not been to a concert since the start of the pandemic. I'm considering a particular concert scheduled for May. It's standing-room only with probably between 500 to 1,000 people. The venue currently requires proof of vaccination, though that may no longer be the case by the time the show happens in May, given the loosening of restrictions. I am vaccinated and boosted and would wear a high-quality mask the entire time. However, the venue will be fairly packed, and most others will probably not be masked. All in all, how risky is an indoor concert like this at this stage of the pandemic?" – Jessica from New York One of the most common questions readers ask is "What's the level of risk of fill-in-the-blank activity?" I'd suggest a slightly different framing: What's the level of risk to you, given your individual medical circumstances and the precautions you will be taking? Since you are vaccinated and boosted, the chance of severe illness is very low if you were to contract covid-19. If you wear a high-quality mask, even if others around you are unmasked, you will be very well-protected from getting the virus. Therefore, even in a tightly packed room with unmasked people, attending the concert is extremely unlikely to result in severe illness for you. The CDC tool can be of additional help here, too, though I think it might be less helpful for events that draw people from different locations. The area where the concert is taking place might be in green, but if many people are coming from orange-level areas, that would still make the setting itself higher risk. That doesn't mean you shouldn't attend, but rather, that you should use the additional precaution of donning a high-quality mask the entire time, as you are planning. "Like you, we have two children under 5 years old who are too young to be vaccinated. We have been extremely cautious throughout the pandemic, but our kids do go to preschool (masked) three mornings a week. During the omicron surge, a few families we know did get covid-19, but we've been lucky. Is it safe to have unmasked indoor playdates with families that have recently recovered from covid-19 and presumably have some level of immunity for a few months, or should we stick with outdoor playdates?" – Natalie from Oregon Recovery from infection does convey protection for at least a short time, on the order of a few months. It's unlikely that the families you know will be reinfected now if they just recovered from omicron. If they all reside in green or yellow areas according to the CDC tracker, I would feel comfortable getting together indoors with families with recent, confirmed coronavirus infection. "Considering the low covid-19 numbers, do you feel it is safe to eat indoors in a restaurant with everyone vaccinated and boosted who I eat with? I chose the place carefully (very large, high ceilings, no one near me). Would you eat indoors now?" – Adrienne from New York Under the circumstances you are laying out, if I'm in an area in either green or yellow covid-19 level, I would feel comfortable eating indoors. Again, I caution that there is no such thing as zero risk, but this is a case of your having reduced the risk with multiple precautions (vaccinated/boosted people only near you; a space with ventilation; some distancing). As with everything else, you also have to weigh the potential risk with the benefit, which I suspect is substantial, as many of us are eager to socialize with our friends and regain some much-needed normalcy. The Post has also compiled Q&As from my previous newsletters. You can read them here. | | | What I'm reading The number of children who have lost a parent, grandparent or close family member to covid-19 tops 5.2 million globally, according to a study from the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. "At the current rate, one child faces parental or caregiver death every [six seconds]," the authors wrote. "Our data suggest the surge of orphanhood and caregiver deaths must be urgently addressed with sustainable and scalable solutions, and integrated into coordinated and collaborative global, regional, and national strategies." Maternal deaths in the United States have sharply climbed during the pandemic. A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics found that the number of women in the United States who died during pregnancy or in the post-partum period increased by 14 percent between 2019 and 2020. Already, American women have far higher maternal mortality than women in other developed countries. There is also an extremely troubling racial disparity; one in three of the women who died during the pregnancy period in 2020 were Black. New York state ER doctor Yoojin Na wrote a chilling piece in the Guardian in which she details the increasing threats to health-care workers. The reasons are multifaceted, including overcrowded hospitals, restrictive visitor policies and misinformation about covid-19, as well as limited mental health resources. Her first-hand account points to a concerning trend that some members of the public are taking out their misplaced anger on doctors, nurses and other medical staff, which is leading to health-care workers leaving their profession. | | | More from The Post By Yasmeen Abutaleb, Lena H. Sun, Dan Diamond and Katie Shepherd ● Read more » | | | By Lena H. Sun, Dan Keating and Laura Meckler ● Read more » | | | | | | |
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