Friday Q&A: COVID update; Long COVID; waning effectiveness of Ozempic/Wegovy; & the endless stuffy nose

You ask the best questions! 🎉

ICYMI 👉

• Your Holiday Survival Guide, Part 1: Protecting Your Physical Health

• Your Holiday Survival Guide, Part 2: Protecting Your Mental Health

• How to Care For Your Body with Kindness & Respect

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Question #1 (a COVID update) is free for all subscribers. Questions #2-4 (on long COVID; Ozempic/Wegovy ; & the endless stuffy nose) are for paid subscribers only. If you would like a paid subscription but it’s not in your budget, please message me directly!

Click here to submit your questions (about anything) for future Q&A posts!

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are entirely my own. They do not reflect those of my employer, nor are they a substitute for advice from your personal physician.

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QUESTION #1: UPDATE ON COVID

Can you tell us what you're seeing so far this December in terms of seriousness of Covid patients vaccinated vs unvaccinated or any other breakdown? We know hospitalizations are up, but are the majority of these incidents less serious, overall? -Shari

Dear Shari,

Great question! Fortunately COVID manifests itself as a self-limited cold or flu-like illness in the vast majority of people. Even with the new JN.1 variant in circulation, the combination of immunity from 1) the vaccine and 2) past COVID infection significantly drops the risk of needing hospital care from COVID. Of course, any time COVID infections increase (as they do in the wintertime), hospitalizations rates will, by definition, increase as well. This is not due to a failure of the vaccine or the human immune system; it’s because respiratory viruses (COVID, flu, RSV, etc.) have always posed particular risk to patients who are elderly, frail, or have underlying health conditions.

The good news is we now have more tools to prevent serious outcomes from COVID than we do for many other respiratory viruses that we’ve lived with for ages.

Of course no one wants to get sick with COVID or any virus, which is why it is crucial for higher-risk patients in particular to keep up-to-date with booster shots—and for everyone to work on optimizing their underlying health. Indeed one of the best ways to prevent serious COVID outcomes is to make sure your diabetes, asthma, hypertension, heart issues, and other medical problems are well-managed. 

• My Holiday Survival Guide (re: reckoning with COVID, alcohol, food …) is here.

• Five Things To Do When You Get COVID is here.

• My conversation about What’s Next with COVID? with public health expert Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH is here.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

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QUESTION #2: LONG COVID

 What about Long COVID? Are you seeing this much these days? One of my friends has been sick for months since she got COVID. -Grace

Dear Grace,