This is a COVID case update. I’ll also discuss the CDC’s recent changes in policy.

We have some good news this week. New cases are going down by every available metric. New confirmed case numbers are coming down in all 3 regions. More importantly, hospitalizations are coming down as well, sharply in San Diego County. BA.5 continues to be the most common variant in the US by far. BA.5 was feared to be more dangerous than previous variants, but deaths have not risen significantly since BA.5 appeared.

World wide, new cases are coming down. After spending most of the pandemic at the top of the list of countries with the most new cases, the US is now at #3 on John’s Hopkins list, behind both Japan and South Korea, and at #7 on Worldometer’s list. Sorry, the US still has double as many total cases as #2, India.

Changes at the CDC: Several news outlets reported on August 17th that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has finally admitted that the CDC made significant mistakes in the agency’s response to COVID. She said, “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations. My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

I’ve discussed several times before that the CDC is primarily responsible for the poor US response to the pandemic. Even worse, they have done great damage to the public’s trust in the medical community and in science in general. I’m glad she intends to fix the agency, but I’m afraid this will not be a speedy process and may essentially be impossible. In order to be successful, they will need to be transparent, and probably fire some people top leadership in order to regain the public’s trust.

Changes to CDC guidance: They also made some changes to CDC guidance on COVID. These changes include the following:

• Those exposed to COVID need not quarantine. Test on day 5, and wear a mask in public for 10 days.

• If you test positive for COVID, quarantine for 5 days. If after 5 days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you may end isolation after day 5. Wear a mask until day 11, and stay away from high risk people.

• Vaccinated and unvaccinated people will not be treated differently.

Some of these changes are in response to the improving situation, while others are long overdue.

If you think you may have been exposed to COVID, review the changes on the CDC website.

Also, you can review the full COVID 19 page.

Don’t fear, but be smart,
Erik