Blog#148- 2/20/23
COVID VIGILANCE NEEDED FOR THOSE OVER 65
By Richard Davis
The hypervigilance phase of the COVID pandemic is over but the disease will, most likely, never go away. That’s not earth shattering news but many of us, especially people over 65, should be mindful of the disease and protect ourselves as much as we can. New variants pop up and each one seems to be more communicable than the next.
The fact that a significant number of people have had COVID and have been vaccinated makes casual transmission less likely, but the threat will always be there. Consider these statistics from the CDC.
Every week over 260,000 people contract COVID, over 2000 people die from COVID in the U.S. every week and 3500 people a day are in the hospital because of COVID.
The most vulnerable among us are those with compromised immune systems and the elderly.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “As of the week ending October 1, 2022, the United States has lost nearly 1.1 million lives to COVID-19, of which about 790,000 are people ages 65 and older.
People 65 and older account for 16% of the total US population but 75% of all COVID deaths to date. Vaccinations, boosters, and treatments have led to a substantial decline in severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19, but with booster uptake lagging, deaths for older adults rose again during the summer of 2022.”
I am a member of the elderly population and I make an effort to still wear a mask when I am in public places where there are more than a few people. It has become a minority practice and I am not sure if or when I will ever feel comfortable changing my behavior.
It is not likely that we will have a vaccine to permanently rid the world of COVID and I suspect there will be recommendations for yearly boosters. Despite a lowering uptake of vaccinations they still remain the best defense against the disease. In addition to vaccines, antiviral medications offer a high level of protection against death and life-threatening symptoms.
Paxlovid is one of the best antiviral protections available against COVID. Here is some valuable information from the Medscape web site. “A new coronavirus variant is circulating, the most transmissible one yet. Hospitalizations of infected patients are rising. And older adults represent nearly 90% of U.S. deaths from covid-19 in recent months, the largest portion since the start of the pandemic. What does that mean for people 65 and older catching covid for the first time or those experiencing a repeat infection? The message from infectious disease experts and geriatricians is clear: Seek treatment with antiviral therapy, which remains effective against new covid variants.”
“The therapy of first choice, experts said, is Paxlovid, an antiviral treatment for people with mild to moderate covid at high risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus. All adults 65 and up fall in that category. If people can’t tolerate the medication — potential complications with other drugs need to be carefully evaluated by a medical provider — two alternatives are available.” There’s lots of evidence that Paxlovid can reduce the risk of catastrophic events that can follow infection with covid in older individuals,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University.”
The U.S. government has been paying for the five day course of treatment with Paxlovid and nearly six million people have benefited. But the subsidy is due to end soon and people will have to pay the obscene price of over $500 for the pills. It is clear that Paxlovid will no longer be an option for a lot of elderly people.
If you get COVID before the subsidy ends talk to your health care provider about Paxlovid. It needs to be taken within five days of diagnosis and it is not compatible with a number of medications, so informed decisions need to be made.
The government supports for a variety of COVID related treatments and prevention strategies are being cut and within the next year most Americans will have to fend for themselves when dealing with COVID. I hope this does not translate into increased suffering and more deaths but that seems inevitable when you live in a health care environment where the profit motive is of the highest priority.
