COVID-19 in 2022
Today’s Pandemic
The spread of Covid-19 has changed drastically since the dawn of the first cases in the country around March 2020. Two years on, we can come to understand the threat of the virus in a new light.
As of the past 6 months, Covid-19 has evolved into an unmissable part of our daily lives. With vaccinations being fervently researched and distributed across every age group, the immediate anxiety one can feel over going to normal places (restaurants, concerts, sporting events) has now faded. Ironically, this same lax mindset led to the highest daily total of cases around the Christmas and Hanukah holiday seasons. Thankfully, most of the country’s eligible citizens were vaccinated at the time, limiting deaths and hospitalizations. The most certain thing about that month long period was the irrefutable presence of Covid-19 in our daily lives remains. Post-holiday season, taught us lessons in continuing our healthy and active strategies in preventing it’s spread.
Current CDC guidelines as of 6/10/22,
CDC recommends that everyone ages 5 years and older get their primary series of COVID-19 vaccine, and everyone ages 12 years and older also receive a booster. Some people can receive two boosters.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised have specific COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, including recommendations for a booster. Learn more about COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.
The following COVID-19 vaccine and booster recommendations may be updated as CDC continues to follow data related to vaccine effectiveness and safety, waning immunity, and protection against variants
People ages 12 through 64 years, and especially males ages 12 through 39 years, may consider getting the second dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) 8 weeks after the first dose. A longer time between the first and second doses may increase how much protection the vaccines offer, and further minimize the already rare risk of heart problems, including myocarditis and pericarditis.
People ages 5 through 11 years, people ages 65 years and older, people more likely to very sick from COVID-19, or anyone wanting protection due to high levels of community transmission should get the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 3 weeks (or 21 days) after the first dose, or the second dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine 4 weeks (or 28 days) after the first dose.
Know Your COVID-19 Community Level
The CDC has created Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. Take precautions to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 based on the COVID-19 Community Level in your area.
Currently in Essex County is MEDIUM as of June 6th, 2022
The county tracks it’s own data for cases and deaths in each town (however incomplete such data is in an of itself is inconclusive). It updates every day