For a while, it seemed like COVID-19 was behind us. We survived the original pandemic and returned to a relatively “normal” world. Unfortunately for the U.S., the virus that shook the world is back in the news.
For health officials, this isn’t a shock. Neal Smoller, holistic pharmacist and owner of Village Apothecary, told Spectrum News that “there’s a surge that we knew would be coming…we can’t forget that this…has been happening for the past few years, so we need to be prepared”. Known as the FLiRT variants, this new omicron strain, and how fast it’s spreading, comes with symptoms that are just as nasty as the other strains.
A FLiRT variant is, possibly, what affected Eden Di Bianco when she was diagnosed with COVID for the third time. Describing it as worse than her second COVID diagnosis, Di Bianco was in bed for 8 days and told Spectrum News her symptoms, which included “headache and a sore throat…intense sweats…nausea, congestion, sneezing…body aches”.
Similar to when COVID first appeared in the states, public fear is starting to spike, with Smoller seeing a significant change in consumer behavior. Looking at the Village Apothecary’s sales, he told Spectrum News that COVID test sales were 30 times higher this week when compared to last week.
Of course, with more tests sold, more people learned “Hey, I have COVID”. This, in turn, has affected New York hospitals and how many COVID-related visits they saw.
According to Spectrum News, Gov. Kathy Hochul noted just how impactful the FLiRT variants are, her office claiming that New York hospitalization rates are higher than last year. Thankfully, however, the current amount of hospital visits related to COVID-19 is less than 2022’s.
Thankfully, this new variant isn’t expected to destroy our summer. Smoller gave precautions to Spectrum News that we all know by now, “Handwashing, social distancing, don’t go into big crowds if you’re nervous, wear masks…get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible…if you’re going to get in an airplane, you run the risk of catching COVID…So…put a mask on”.
Speaking of vaccines, a new one is expected to be available in the fall.
Enjoy your summer folks, and take the proper precautions. Remember, we’ve gone through the original coronavirus and multiple variants already, we can get through this one too.
