Total vaccine doses distributed: 752,083,155
Patients whove received the first dose: 258,865,995
Patients whove received the second dose: 221,559,553
% of population fully vaccinated (both doses, not including boosters): 66.7%
% tied to Omicron variant: 99.9%
% tied to Other: 0.1%
Crawford County had an increase in coronavirus cases over the past seven days compared to the previous span.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health said in its weekly report that there have been 142 cases. The countys current seven-day average of new cases is 20.3. Last week, those numbers were 130 and 18.6, respectively. The department is only updating its COVID dashboard weekly on Wednesdays, so a daily case count has not been available for the county.
While the cases are up, the number of patients hospitalized in the county is lower.
The state reported there were five coronavirus patients hospitalized in the county on Wednesday, a drop of five. There were no COVID patients in an intensive care unit (ICU), while there was one last week, and no patients on ventilators, the same as last week. The state said there were six adult ICU beds available, a change from nine listed in the previous report.
One death was reported to The Meadville Tribune. The Crawford County Coroners Office said a man in his 70s passed away on Monday. It was the first coronavirus-related death in the county this month after there were three reported in May. Since the pandemic began 26 months ago, there have been 307 coronavirus-related deaths in the county.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 statewide decreased in the last week, the first time that has happened since the health department started reporting figures weekly about a month ago.
There were 1,213 COVID hospitalizations statewide Wednesday. Last weeks total, 1,329, was the highest statewide since March 1. There were 133 patients statewide being treated in ICUs, down 18, and 51 on ventilators, down one from last week.
There were 159 new deaths linked to COVID-19 in the state, the third week in a row the total was more than 100.
Pennsylvania registered nearly 22,564 new COVID-19 cases over the past week with at least 1,363 new cases being added to the statewide total each day.
According to data being tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Johns Hopkins University, nationally the number of cases and deaths linked to COVID has increased in the past seven days. Across the U.S., the number of cases was up 38 percent and deaths rose 13 percent. Hospitalizations were down 1 percent in the last week. In Pennsylvania, over the past week, cases are down 19 percent, deaths are up 83 percent and hospitalizations are down 12 percent.
Of Pennsylvanias 67 counties, 17 were seeing high levels (down 10 from last week), 23 were seeing medium levels and the other 27 had low levels (up a dozen from last weeks report). The data is updated each Friday. Crawford County is listed in the high COVID level.
The CDC looks at the combination of three metrics new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days to determine the COVID-19 community level.
We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.
Lauren Chan, co-author of the study from OSUs College of Public Health and Human Sciences, said: For people who have had COVID, if youre feeling anxiety, if youre seeing some changes in how youre going through life from a psychiatric standpoint, its totally appropriate for you to seek health. And if youre a care provider, you need to be on the proactive side and start to screen for those psychiatric conditions and then follow up with those patients.
Miss Chan added that it is advisable to seek help if people experience mental health struggles post COVID. There could certainly be people who are struggling with new things like this, and they need that additional support or push to seek some help. I dont mean to say that every single person who gets COVID is going to have this type of problem, but if you start to have concern for yourself or a family member, its not unheard of."
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JUNE 1
Taufalele Mavaetangi, left, takes a COVID-19 test with the assistance of Yuko Miyake.
The Hawaii Department of Health today reported 8,033 new COVID-19 infections last week, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 290,652 cases.
DOH also reported eight more deaths, bringing the states coronavirus-related death toll to 1,465.
The states seven-day average of new cases today was reported at 1,085 compared to 1,210 on June 1, representing a decrease for the first time in more than two months. The seven-day average reflects new cases per day from May 28 and June 3, which includes Memorial Day weekend.
The states average positivity rate, meanwhile, increased to 19.2% from 18.4% reported last week.
DOH has recorded consecutive positivity rate increases in Hawaii for more than two months. In Honolulu County, the average positivity rate increased to 21.9%, up from 20.5% last week.
By island, there were 5,794 new infections reported on Oahu, 841 on Hawaii island, 849 on Maui, 435 on Kauai, 23 on Molokai and one on Lanai. Another 90 infections were reported out of state.
DOH Director Dr. Libby Char has said the average daily case counts are likely five to six times higher than reported, given that results from home test kits are not officially tallied.
The state dashboard reported a total of 190 patients with COVID-19 in Hawaii hospitals today, just one more than reported on June 1. Of the 190, 12 are in intensive care and six on ventilators.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week for travelers wishing to protect themselves against monkeypox. This was one of its recommendations: Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.
Late Monday night, that recommendation was deleted.
C.D.C. removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox travel health notice because it caused confusion, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
However, the agency still says that in countries where monkeypox is spreading, household contacts and health care workers should consider wearing masks. That guideline also applies to other people who may be in close contact with a person who has been confirmed with monkeypox.
The turnabout hints at a little-discussed aspect of the current monkeypox outbreak: The virus can be airborne, at least over short distances. While airborne transmission is only a small factor in the overall spread, experts said in interviews, there are no firm estimates regarding how much it contributes.
Since May 13, when the first case in the outbreak was reported, more than a thousand people in 31 countries have been diagnosed with the virus, and at least another thousand cases are being investigated. As of Tuesday, the United States had recorded 31 cases in 12 states and the District of Columbia.
In previous outbreaks, a majority of cases were reported in those who had close contact with an infected patient or animal. But in some instances, airborne transmission was the only explanation for the infections.
Elsewhere on its website, the C.D.C. still urges monkeypox patients to wear a surgical mask, especially those who have respiratory symptoms. It also asks other household members to consider wearing a surgical mask when they are in the presence of the person with monkeypox.
Monkeypox is assumed to behave much like its viral cousin, smallpox. In a 2012 review of smallpox transmission, Dr. Donald Milton, an expert on viruses at the University of Maryland, described several instances of airborne transmission.
It was the only plausible explanation during a 1947 outbreak of smallpox in New York, he wrote, when one patient apparently infected another seven floors away in a hospital. Then, in 1970, a single patient infected several others on three floors of a hospital in Meschede, Germany, aided by air currents in the building.
And scientists studying a 2017 outbreak of monkeypox in Nigeria observed cases of transmission within a prison and recorded infections in two health care workers who had no direct contact with patients.
At a scientific conference last week organized by the World Health Organization, several researchers discussed the many unknowns about monkeypox, including its primary mode of transmission.
Its very ambiguous what the true or dominant route of transmission is, and some of that can be addressed in animal models, Nancy Sullivan, a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at the conference. Probably that needs to take a front seat for some of the laboratory research.
But in briefings with the press and with the general public, health officials have not explicitly addressed the possibility of airborne transmission or the use of masks for protection.
And in interviews, they emphasized the role of large respiratory droplets that are expelled from infected patients and drift onto objects or people. Monkeypox infection requires really close sustained contact, said Andrea McCollum, the C.D.C.s leading expert on the virus.
This is not a virus that was transmitted over several meters, she said. Thats why we have to be really careful how to frame this.
When asked whether health officials should make the possibility of airborne transmission more widely known, Ms. McCollum said, Its a fair point to make, and its something we certainly should consider moving forward.
What is monkeypox? Monkeypox is a virus endemic in parts of Central and West Africa. It is similar to smallpox, but less severe. It was discovered in 1958, after outbreaks occurred in monkeys kept for research, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What are the symptoms? Monkeypox creates a rash that starts with flat red marks that become raised and filled with pus.Infected people mayalso have a fever and body aches. Symptoms typically appear in six to 13 days but can take as long as three weeks after exposure to show, andcan last for two to four weeks. Health officials say smallpox vaccinesand other treatments can be used to control an outbreak.
How infectious is it? The virus spreads mainly through body fluids, skin contact and respiratory droplets, though it can occasionally be airborne, at least over short distances. Typically it does not lead to major outbreaks, though it has spread in unusual ways this year, and among populations that have not been vulnerable in the past.
Should I be worried? The likelihood of the virus being spread during sexual contact is high, but the risk of transmission in other ways is low. Most people have mild symptoms and recover within weeks, but the virus can be fatal in a small percentage of cases. Studies also suggest that older adults may have some protection from decades-old smallpox vaccinations.
The C.D.C.s swift about-face on masks for travelers concerned about monkeypox was reminiscent of its early denials that the coronavirus was airborne. In September 2020, the agency published guidance on airborne transmission of the virus and then abruptly withdrew it just days later.
It was not until May 2021 that the agency acknowledged that the coronavirus could remain suspended in the air for minutes to hours.
Most information about the monkeypox virus has been gleaned from studies on smallpox. For the past two decades, scientists have been studying how smallpox spreads, including its presence in tiny droplets called aerosols, in order to prepare for its potential use by bioterrorists.
Most people think that smallpox usually is transmitted by large droplets, but it can, for whatever reason, occasionally be transmitted by small-particle aerosols, said Mark Challberg, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Milton warned that planning for potential airborne transmission of monkeypox was particularly important in hospitals, because precautions to avoid the spread of viruses through aerosols are not universal.
As the monkeypox outbreak continues, many patients are isolating at home because their symptoms are mild. Members of those households may need to take the possibility of airborne transmission into consideration, experts said.
Many unanswered questions about monkeypox remain, including why the current outbreak has produced only relatively mild cases. Scientists do not know whether people can transmit virus even in the absence of symptoms, how long the virus has been circulating in communities, and whether it can be transmitted in semen or vaginal secretions.
There is evidence that a pregnant woman can pass the monkeypox virus on to her fetus. In an observational study of 216 patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest of its kind, four of five pregnant women had miscarriages. The researchers found the virus and viral lesions in the fetuses.
Coronavirus cases across Los Angeles County are rising just as students are counting down the days left in school.
As L.A. prepares for its third pandemic summer, a question hovers like June gloom: What will the summer holiday mean for COVID-19?
Its very hard to accurately predict, said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. Im less and less comfortable with the modeling and the predictions, and more and more comfortable with just noting that we have a lot of uncertainty.
Shes not alone.
Im a little cautious making predictions about the summer and COVID, USC virologist Paula Cannon said. If nothing else, Ive learned this virus throws us curve balls all the time.
Newsletter
Get our free Coronavirus Today newsletter
Sign up for the latest news, best stories and what they mean for you, plus answers to your questions.
Enter email address
Sign Me Up
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
The countys official case count will likely drop dramatically after L.A. Unified finishes its school year on Friday. That doesnt have anything to do with coronavirus transmission, however. The districts required weekly testing for all students and staff accounts for roughly half of test results reported to the county, Ferrer said.
Without those hundreds of thousands of weekly tests, she said, the county will rely more heavily on data from wastewater treatment sites and cases reported in high-risk settings such as nursing homes, hospitals and homeless shelters.
Epidemiologists are adamant that its too early to say whether COVID-19 has settled into predictable seasonal patterns like those associated with the flu or West Nile virus.
The past two summers have been something of a double-edged sword for coronavirus transmission.
School breaks and sunny weather mean less time in crowded classrooms and more time outdoors, both of which slow the virus spread.
But its also a time of year when many people let down their guard, drop their masks and gather for parties, weddings, graduations and festivals. And with another hot, dry summer expected, many people in the county will seek air-conditioned refuge indoors, sometimes in crowded cooling centers.
Both L.A. County and the U.S. as a whole saw a small increase in cases the last two summers, in July 2020 and August 2021.
This years summertime wave may have arrived early. Cases are rising locally and nationwide, fueled by waning immunity and highly transmissible new Omicron subvariants.
Will we have a wave this summer? Yes, were already soaking in it, said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease demographer at UC Irvine.
The average number of daily new cases reported over the last seven days in L.A. County was 4,442 at the end of May, a 75% increase from the previous month. The positivity rate for coronavirus tests rose in the same period of time, from 2.1% on May 9 to 3.6% on June 6.
Reports from K-12 schools mirrored this pattern. Local schools reported 7,854 coronavirus cases among students and staff during the week ending May 29, up from 4,479 in the week ending May 1. With 762 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, children ages 12 to 17 currently have the highest case rate of any demographic in the county.
The most common variant in L.A. County is BA.2.12.1, a version of Omicron with a gnarly Delta twist. An aggravating combination of both variants, it spreads faster than the original Omicron and has a genetic mutation on its spike protein that helps it skirt past existing immunity from a prior Omicron infection.
Whats circulating right now spreads way more than anything weve ever seen, Ferrer said. This virus mutates like crazy and is able to effectively mutate to its advantage.
Vaccines and boosters continue to be the most effective tools for slowing the virus spread, and for preventing serious illness and death. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend booster shots for all vaccinated people ages 5 and older if its been at least five months since they were fully vaccinated. For immunocompromised people ages 12 and older and for all people 50 and older, the CDC recommends a second booster if four months have passed since their first booster.
Ferrer strongly encouraged people to wear a mask when spending time in crowded indoor situations, such as while shopping or seeing a movie. The county hasnt reinstated an indoor mask mandate and remains well below the threshold that would trigger one.
I wouldnt say that anybody needs to have excessive worry right now, because weve got amazing tools that we can use that are going to keep most people relatively safe, she said.
Ferrer also advised people to take a coronavirus test before traveling by plane or attending an indoor event.
These to me are sensible steps we can take that dont really limit our ability to really do the things we love and be with the people we care about, but do acknowledge weve got a responsibility to be taking care of each other, she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic took a devastating human toll on Latin America and the Caribbean, taking the lives of more than 2.7 million people across our hemisphere accounting for more than 40 percent of global reported deaths.It showed us the many cracks in our global health systems and underscored the importance of strong and resilient health systems for the entire population, health security, and pandemic preparedness and response, starting with a strong foundation based on cooperation, transparency, and accountability.
Today President Biden led leaders of the Americas in adopting an Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas.The Action Plan will help our partners prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemic threats and other public health emergencies while also expanding the equitable delivery of healthcare and public health services to remote, vulnerable, and marginalized populations.As implementing this Action Plan will require additional investments in our health systems, the Administration is proud to announce theAmericas Health Corps, a new initiative aligned with the recently announcedGlobal Health Worker Initiative.
The Administration remains committed to advancing pandemic response and global health security and has prioritized additional activities in the Americas for this year and into the future.These activities will help the region better respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future pandemics by building the capability to prevent outbreaks, detect infectious disease threats, and respond effectively when outbreaks occur.
Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas:Leaders committed thatthis Action Plan which will strengthen our health systems and coordination, preparing us for future health emergencies and improving regional coordination, transparency, and accountability will be fully in effect by 2030.This work requires close coordination among governments and engagement with the private sector and civil society.With this in mind, the Administration is poised to launch the Economy and Health Dialogue of the Americas, and looks forward to working with health and economy ministries to create and implement the Action Plan in coordination with the private sector and civil society.Their efforts will strengthen public health and health care systems, consider how to make access to public health services and health care more equitable, and enhance pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response while increasing economic resilience in the region.
Strengthening the Health Workforce:The U.S. Government intends to continue and expand investments in the health workforce, which is central to strengthening the resilience of health systems. The U.S. Government and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched Americas Health Corps Fuerza de Salud de las Americas which will provide basic and specialized training to 500,000 public health, health science, and medical professionals throughout the region within five years.In line with the Biden-Harris Administrations Global Health Worker Initiative, the Americas Health Corps willsupport the expansion and training of a robust, resilient, and highly skilled workforce capable of providing health services to all segments of society. The Americas Health Corps will function as a consortium and partner with academic institutions in the United States and throughout the Americas region to leverage and expand existing U.S. Government and PAHO training programs. It will serve asan opportunity to work together on promoting the next generation of global health workforce leaders by identifying, mentoring, and empowering professionals and community health workers, which will strengthen and expand health system capacity and equitable access to health systems in the region.
United States COVID-19 Response in the Americas:As the Americas face a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and the threat of new variants, the U.S. Government remains committed to ending the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and promoting recovery in the region. During the Second Global COVID-19 Summit on May 12, 2022, the U.S. Government reiterated its commitment to get shots into arms, enhance access to testing and treatment, protect the health workforce, and finance and build health security for future pandemics and other health crises. The Summit raised more than $3.2 billion in new commitments, yet significant gaps remain.
Strengthening Global Health Security in the Americas:The Biden-Harris Administration understands that the health of one is directly connected to the health of all. That is why the United States is committed to continuing to engage with partners throughout the Americas to strengthen our global health security by:
These collective efforts will be complemented by expansion of health security programs including:
###
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of June 9, 2022, there are currently 2,196 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There has been one death reported since the last report, with a total of 6,998 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
DHHR has confirmed the death of a 96-year old male from Cabell County.
We offer our deepest sympathy as both the family and our state grieves another loss due to COVID-19, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. I urge you to schedule your vaccine and booster shot as soon as possible.
Please note that from June 6-20, 2022, the National Center for Health Statistics will be unable to certify deaths due to a system update affecting all 50 states. This may impact West Virginia's ability to report COVID-19 deaths. The Bureau for Public Healths Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services will continue to certify and report deaths using the death reconciliation process; however, there may be a decrease in deaths reported during this time period.
CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (13), Berkeley (167), Boone (36), Braxton (8), Brooke (30), Cabell (154), Calhoun (6), Clay (12), Doddridge (7), Fayette (38), Gilmer (17), Grant (14), Greenbrier (41), Hampshire (25), Hancock (31), Hardy (17), Harrison (114), Jackson (13), Jefferson (78), Kanawha (217), Lewis (18), Lincoln (29), Logan (31), Marion (91), Marshall (19), Mason (40), McDowell (22), Mercer (95), Mineral (33), Mingo (14), Monongalia (155), Monroe (21), Morgan (10), Nicholas (40), Ohio (50), Pendleton (4), Pleasants (6), Pocahontas (1), Preston (28), Putnam (46), Raleigh (108), Randolph (37), Ritchie (10), Roane (25), Summers (6), Taylor (22), Tucker (3), Tyler (13), Upshur (25), Wayne (39), Webster (9), Wetzel (29), Wirt (1), Wood (56), Wyoming (22). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.
West Virginians ages 5 and older are recommended to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot when due. Second booster shots for those age 50 and over who are 4 months or greater from their first booster are recommended, as well as for younger individuals over 12 years old with serious and chronic health conditions that lead to being considered moderately to severely immunocompromised.
Visit the WV COVID-19 Vaccination Due Date Calculator, a free, online tool that helps individuals figure out when they may be due for a COVID-19 shot, making it easier to stay up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.
To locate COVID-19 testing near you, please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.
After New York Times writer Melinda Wenner Moyer's daughter tested positive for the coronavirus, she assumed the whole family would "finally" get Covid-19. However, no one else in the family tested positiveeven after they started experiencing "classic" Covid-19 symptoms.
On a Sunday evening, Moyer's daughter developed a fever. The following morning, they received an email from her school informing them that she had been exposed to the coronavirus just a few days earlier.
When Moyer gave her daughter a rapid antigen test, it quickly gave them a positive result. "I resigned myself to the possibility that the whole family was, finally, going to get Covid-19," Moyer writes. "But we didn't not exactly."
The day her daughter initially tested positive, Moyer's 11-year-old son said he did not feel well and started experiencing "classic" Covid-19 symptoms, including headache, fatigue, sore throat, and runny nose.
Two days later, her husband developed a sore throat and stuffy nose as well. However, "despite testing daily for seven days straight, my husband and son never tested positive for Covid-19 including on PCR tests administered on my son's fifth day of symptoms, and my husband's third," Moyer writes.
Moyer never tested positive for the virus or developed any symptoms herself.
"We racked our brains as to what might have happened," Moyer writes. She wondered if her husband and son were infected even though they never tested positive. In addition, she wondered whether they had a different virus with similar symptomsa scenario their pediatrician said was unlikely.
In search of answers, Moyer called experts in immunology, microbiology, and virology.
One of the first things experts asked was whether the entire family had been vaccinated. Moyer and her husband are vaccinated and boosted, and their children have been vaccinated but not yet boosted.
According to Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, this is relevant because, when you are exposed to the coronavirus, "your immune system kicks into action a lot faster if you're vaccinated versus not vaccinated." This rapid response impacts everything that follows.
"First, the swift immune reaction slows the rate of viral reproduction and spread," Moyer writes.
"This is what the vaccines are there for to educate your immune system so that it gets a jump on the invaders before they are able to replicate out of control," Gronvall said.
Since the virus does not replicate as quickly in vaccinated individuals, they may be less likely to test positive for the virus after they have been exposed, largely because their immune system "keeps the viral load below the level of detection," said Juliet Morrison, a microbiologist at the University of California, Riverside.
"It's possible, then, that my husband and son did catch Covid-19, but their vaccinated immune systems fended off the infection so well that they never had enough viral proteins in their nose or throat to test positive," Moyer notes. According to Morrison, their string of negative tests likely meant that they were never highly contagious.
Still, Moyer wondered why her husband and son felt sick if they never tested positive. Even if a vaccinated person does not have high levels of the virus in their body, they can still experience powerful Covid-19 symptoms, the experts told Moyer.
This occurs because many symptoms, including fever, malaise, runny nose, and fatigue are actually triggered by the immune system's response to the virusnot the virus itself, Gronvall noted.
According to Morrison, Moyer may have felt fine because her immune system likely fought off the virus so quickly that she never had a chance to feel sick. "It sounds to me like you were definitely exposed," Morrison said.
The experts said Moyer may have had high levels of vaccine antibodies or immune cells that were able to detect and kill the virus before it reached the parts of her immune system that would trigger symptoms.
"All this said, nobody really knows what happened to me, my son or my husband," Moyer writes.
When trying to understand how Covid-19 affects the body, "there are so many open questions," said Raul Andino, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Different individuals can have very different experiences for a variety of reasons.
For example, Andino noted, it is possible that the virus was replicating in parts of Moyer's husband's or son's body that the tests didn't reach.
"Research suggests that the coronavirus can replicate in thepancreas,heart,brain, kidneys and other organs, although vaccination mayreduce the chancethat the virus spreads outside the respiratory system," Moyer writes.
"My family is not the only one that has had the bizarre experience of developing coronavirus symptoms but repeatedly testing negative," Moyer notes.
According to Andino, he and his colleagues have been conducting studies that follow and repeatedly test entire households after anyone in the household tests positive for the virus. "What we see is exactly what you described that some people in the household don't test positive," even though they have symptoms, he said.
Ultimately, "[t]here's a difference between never testing positive andnot yettesting positive," Moyer writes. "[M]any people only test for a couple of days and, frustratingly, you can't make clear conclusions from just a couple of negative tests." (Moyer, New York Times, 6/6)
For Tyler Holman, getting COVID-19 for the second time was an unwelcome surprise.
I didnt expect to get it again, he said. Only because of the fact I had it once.
Holman, 32-years-old from Farmington, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he and his wife Tabitha both tested positive for COVID in May 2021, around Mothers Day.
Then he got it again in December.
That time, he said, was much worse.
The second time was a massive headache, four days straight, and it wouldnt go away until it finally broke, he recalled. That same night, I ended with a 104-degree temperature that broke the same day, too.
Holman said that the second round hit hard, despite taking precautions.
He explained after contracting COVID the first time, he and Tabitha isolated in their basement and stayed away from their two-year old daughter Jade.
That was just the start of some new precautions.
Got all my vaccination shots, my booster, Holman remembered. Stayed relatively distant from people outside the house as best as I could.
The Centers for Disease Control calls it reinfection a person infected and recovered who becomes infected again.
Holman is not alone.
ABC News contacted health officials across the country and found information showing at least 1.6 million reinfection cases in 24 states.
Numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) show there have been more than 75,000 cases statewide.
This is a common story, said Dr. Beth Thielen, an M Health Fairview infectious disease specialist. Friends who have kids in daycare who got infected in an earlier wave and have tested positive again. Many colleagues whove been fully vaccinated during the pandemic have gotten sick.
Thielen said there could be several reasons for reinfection cases to appear.
Theres waning immunity, she explained. Were seeing the virus change quite a bit, particularly as were seeing more and more global circulation, more people are getting infected, more children are getting infected.
But theres something else.
Minnesotans and people across the U.S. are taking advantage of travel season all while restrictions have eased up in many cases.
A lot of places are doing away with mask requirements, Thielen noted. People are traveling again more, so were seeing circulation, not just of SARS-coV-2, but a lot of respiratory viruses that have been quiet for a while.
She said contracting COVID will provide some level of protection but that getting vaccinated is the best way to stay safe.
I think the good news is that were see people who had vaccinations being relatively protected from severe disease, Thielen said. So despite the fact that theres good circulation, now we arent seeing the strain on the health care system that weve seen during earlier waves of the pandemic.
The CDC recommends testing for those who develop symptoms within ninety days of recovering.
Thielen recommends you might consider carrying a mask if you go into a crowded space and feel more comfortable wearing one.
She also said if you do get sick, anti-viral pills are available that can help.
We have some oral drugs that are available if people get infected to shorten the course of the disease, Thielen notes. I think these are much more widely available than earlier.
She says if you have questions, you should check with a health care professional.
For his part, Holman says hes glad Jade never got sick and that he and his wife have remained healthy.
But he says his family will now be extra careful with health issues surrounding COVID from now on.
I guess at this point, I dont think its ever going to go away, Holman says. Were just going to have to deal with it, and do the best we can to stay as healthy as we can.
