I lost my Covirginity last month. After four years of caution and a scant few months after my eighth or ninth Covid booster, I partied while my husband was away.

I let down my vigilance, accepting a carpool ride to the party. All but one of us came down with Covid.

How is Covid doing in the age of skepticism?

Covid-19 has killed more than 7 million globally from the end of 2019 to the middle of March 2024; 1.2 million in the U.S.

With vaccines and natural immunity, the pace of deaths has slowed considerably. The virus’ death toll in the U.S. in 2023 slowed to about 76,000, compared to over 200,000 in 2022.
 
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) eased its advisory last month, along with the easing crisis. Now Covid sufferers are only encouraged to stay home if they are symptomatic. Once they are fever-free without medication and overall symptoms are improving, they don’t need to isolate.

The CDC still advocates Covid vaccines for babies over 6 months old and recommends boosters for children and adults. This has caused some controversy, since children are considered extremely unlikely to become seriously ill (the primary benefit of the vaccine) and are less likely to transmit the virus than adults.

Interestingly, the U.S. is an outlier in maintaining these recommendations. Britain, France, Japan and Australia no longer recommend booster shots for young children. Germany and India go further: children don’t need even an initial vaccination unless they have underlying medical conditions.

“I don’t think in the U.S.A. they have got the risk-benefit equation correct for children,” Dr. Peter Collignon of the Australian National University.

Many parents in the U.S. may agree: only about 40 percent of children under 12 have been vaccinated against Covid. Far fewer- about 5 percent — are getting regular boosters.

The issues are nuanced. One risk of nuance, already playing out, is that some parents have become skeptical of all CDC advice. As they neglect other important vaccinations, diseases once thought eradicated, like measles, diphtheria and meningitis, are making a comeback in the population.

Covid vaccination apathy is also playing out at the other end of the age spectrum. As of early March, the vaccination rate among those 60 years or older was 42%. Only 23% of eligible adults have boosted with the latest version of the vaccine.

Will I continue to boost? It took me a decade or so to decide to seek the annual flu vaccine, but now I’m a believer. Covid deaths, moreover, are still more than double the flu fatalities. So yes, I’ll boost after my get-out-of-Covid free time expires.

Covid, plus diseases that came before it and will emerge in the future, are here to stay.

Climate disruption could aggravate more than 50 percent of known human pathogens, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

We need to do a better job implementing known solutions that reduce the spread of disease and deaths.

Suggestions in a recent New York Times article by David Leonhardt make sense:
· Ensure that inoculation is easily available to anyone arriving at health facilities for any reason.
· Improve indoor ventilation and air filtration. This includes everything from keeping windows open to modifying HVAC systems. Federal funding may be available for high density areas such as schools.
· Align Covid advice with recommendations for other seasonal viruses. Allow for flexible recommendations so that high risk areas such as hospitals and nursing homes can implement more conservative guidelines.

Especially with the low rate of getting a booster, I would be happy with one addition:

More public service announcements emphasizing masking when you are ill but need to be in public. This helps prevent the spread of any readily communicable disease.

Masking when ill would save employers countless lost labor hours and ourselves needless illness. It could also protect my husband, who is still a Covirgin.