“These variants still have the potential to cause serious illness. »
If you’re traveling during the holidays, you’re feeling a little exhausted, but is it just fatigue or can it just be COVID-19?
It’s probably been a minute since you had any idea about COVID-19, so it’s natural to wonder about your symptoms in 2024. Are they different? The same?
Of course, if you’re feeling sick, it’s a good idea to test yourself so you can know the full picture of what you’re dealing with, says Thomas Russo, MD, a professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. Here’s what you should know.
Meet the experts: Thomas Russo, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University at Buffalo in New York.
The main COVID variant in the U. S. The current U. S. variant is the XEC variant: it currently accounts for 45% of COVID-19 cases in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
XEC is a variant of Omicron, Russo explains. But it has several mutations in the spike protein, which cause the virus to infect you. This may make XEC more contagious than previous variants, he says.
But Russo says that XEC doesn’t have any major symptoms that are different from previous version of COVID-19. According to the CDC, symptoms may include:
“These variants still have the potential to cause severe disease,” Russo says.
The most recent COVID-19 vaccine should offer protection against the XEC variant, Russo says. “The most recent version of the vaccine seems to be reasonably well-matched,” he says. (He just recommends keeping in mind that protection can wane over time.)
So if you haven’t received the latest COVID vaccine, now is the time to take a look.
Making sure you’re up to date with your COVID vaccine is important, Russo says. If you’re considered high risk for severe disease, he suggests wearing a mask in crowded indoor and poorly ventilated spaces.
“If you spread a respiratory illness, for the sake of others, come home,” Russo says.
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