COVID-19 UPDATES

ST. JOHN’S COVID-19 UPDATES: JULY/AUG 2024

Psalm 91:10
“My Grace is sufficient for you, for my Power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9

As many people continue to enjoy the warmer months; another COVID variant is rising in circulation across the United States.

Although the KP.3 COVI0-19 variant continues to lead as the dominant variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that another variant KP.3.1.1 is not too far behind the leading strain.

  • WHAT TO KNOW
    CDC recommends the 2023-2024 updated COVID-19 vaccines – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax – to protect against serious illness from COVJD-19.
  • Everyone aged 5 years and older* should get 1 dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against serious illness from COVID-19.
  • Children aged 6 months-4 years may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines to be up to date, including at Least 1 dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine.
  • People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated COVID-19 vaccine.
  • People aged 65 years and older who received 1 dose of any updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax) should receive 1 additional dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine at Least 4 months after the previous updated dose.
  • COVID-19 vaccine recommendations will be updated as needed.
  • People who are up to date have Lower risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19 than people who are unvaccinated or who have not completed the doses recommended for them by CDC.

Core Prevention Strategies
CDC recommends that all people use core prevention strategies to protect themselves and others from COVID-19:

  • Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
    • Although vaccinated people sometimes get infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines significantly lowers the risk of getting very sick, being hospitalized, or dying from COVID-19.
  • Practice good hygiene (practices that improve cleanliness)
  • Take steps for cleaner air

When you are sick:

  • Use precautions to prevent spread, including staying home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) if you have respiratory symptoms.
    • Learn when you can go back to your normal activities.
  • Seek health care promptly for testing and/or treatment if you have risk factors for severe illness. Treatment may help lower your risk of severe illness, but it needs to be started within a few days of when your symptoms begin.

Additional Prevention Strategies
In addition, there are other prevention strategies that you can choose to further protect yourself and others.

  • Wearing a mask and putting distance between yourself and others can help lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
  • Testing for COVID-19 can help you decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading COVID-19 to others.

What to watch out for
Using these prevention strategies can be especially helpful when:

  • Respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19, flu, and RSV, are causing a lot of illness in your community
  • You or those around you have risk factors for severe illness
  • You or those around you were recently exposed to a respiratory virus, are sick, or are recovering

Wastewater data are meant to be used with other COVID-19 surveillance data to better understand COVID-19’s spread in the community.

P.S. COVID-Vaccine for Fall 2024 will be available September 2024.