COVID 2023 News: Spring COVID Update for Older Adults & Families

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

*In this video:* 00:00 COVID News 2023 for Older Adults & Families 02:18 The current COVID & flu situation (cases & hospitalizations) 11:14 About the new Covid variant XBB.1.5 14:51 What the public health emergency ending will mean for you 27:59 How to know if you need to worry about COVID 33:19 What to know about COVID reinfections 36:56 If you're high risk and need to avoid catching COVID 41:41 Update on the bivalent COVID booster 44:56 When can you get your next COVID booster? 48:41 Update on masks to prevent COVID 52:17 COVID symptoms in 2023 55:03 The best treatment for COVID (Paxlovid) & how to get it 1:04:26 Summary of what to know for COVID in Spring 2023

[@anna_cares]

Thanks for info and this shortcut to topics, Dr. K! 🤗

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

*WATCH NEXT:* Learn more about the *proactive steps older adults can take to stay informed about coronavirus variants* and mutations including Omicron: kzbin.info/aero/PL2PxdtMUe-3WLmDcDR4rj16hE5cns8dqc 2022 *FLU Vaccine Update for Older Adults & Families*: Which Flu Vaccine to Get & Why kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWqrn4KNg9KFj5Y COVID *Update for Aging Adults*: Omicron BA.2 & More kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJSml51mntafn7s

[@edmartin9397]

Thank you for this info. I greatly appreciate these deeper dives into Covid and healthcare that you provide. Please keep the info coming!

[@Sharla1213]

Thank you so much! Tons of good accurate information. It’s nice to hear someone educated and with common sense. Too many spreading fear or misinformation. Appreciate you!

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

Thank you!

[@Gmarie4612]

Thanks for this update. You state that Paxlovid should be started within 5 days of starting symptoms but it can take up to 5 days for a Covid test to turn positive. How do you get around this dilemma?

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

This is a great question! It can take up to 5 days for a home COVID rapid antigen test to turn positive. However, there are more accurate tests that are likely to be positive sooner. These include laboratory-based PCR tests, but also now many health providers (and some pharmacies) offer point-of-care "NAAT" tests: these amplify the material found on the test and can offer a more accurate result within 30 min or so. If the sick person is at high risk (e.g. older, many chronic health conditions), you're concerned about COVID, but a home rapid test is still negative, you could ask for one of these more accurate tests on day 2 or 3 of symptoms. Ask your doctor (or you can get a test like Lucira online at Amazon). For more info: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

[@seattlecathy]

How much is due to age and how much to comorbidities? Nursing homme deaths have always been high. The variance among older people is huge and gets larger with age. 😮

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

Age has been shown to independently be a very strong risk factor for severe COVID; people in their 80s and 90s who are considered reasonably healthy still have a noticeably higher risk of severe COVID than people who are 10 years younger. This is how we know age itself is a strong risk factor. Comorbidities are closely tied with age; there are some people in their 80s-90s who have almost none, but most have some or several because age is a top risk factor for most common comorbidities. Nursing homes are especially vulnerable because almost everyone is frail, generally due to a combo of age and comorbidities. Anyway...in the early days of the pandemic, before vaccines and treatments, people in their 90s in Italy were observed to have a 10-20% mortality rate. This means the vast majority survived (4 in 5!) but it was still a much higher mortality rate than in people who were younger. I hope this has helped answer your question!

[@dek4830]

Thank you Dr. K for your update. It's hard to get info on covid now that a lot of places stopped tracking it. Will you be doing a summer update? Also, My 20 yo daughter will be travelling through Asia where covid is surging right now. She got her booster last Sept. Do you think she needs a booster? She is anemic with a very low ferritin level so kind of concerned about her oxygen level if infected.

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

yes, I'm hoping to release a summer update very soon. Re a second booster, your daughter is technically not eligible, as it's for 65+ and immunocompromised I believe. Even if she got it, it's a small-medium reduction in COVID infection risk. To avoid COVID, it's probably more effective to try to wear a good mask when on planes, crowded indoor spaces, etc.

[@nickturnock3369]

Keeping up to date with vaccines. It's well established that antibody levels wane and protection against infection is reduced by 3 months after vaccination.. But what is reducing by 6 months? What is the evidence that protection against serious disease wanes 6 months after vaccination?

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

There's been consistent evidence that vaccine protection against serious disease wanes, and it probably does so faster in those who are older/frailer. Here's a recently published study in NEJM: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2302462 Vaccine protection wanes in younger people as well, but since younger people are at much less risk of severe disease, even with waning, in absolute terms the increased risk to someone who is under age 65 is pretty negligible...unless they are serious health conditions. Having had a prior COVID infection helps the vaccine protection be more durable...but again, that works better in robust immune systems and less well once people are much older or frailer. Hope this helps!

[@FlyingCondor1]

Can you tell me why anti-coagulents are not perscribed to those that get the covid shot when it IS known that the spike proteine DOES cause blood issues?

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

Anticoagulants come with pretty significant risks of bleeding and more. Whereas the risk of clots after the COVID vaccine has been very very small, and was primarily associated with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

[@be-happy]

What if your loved one can't swallow well?

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

I'm guessing you are referring to whether Paxlovid can be taken if the person cannot swallow well? The Emergency Use Authorization says this medication should be swallowed whole. However, this is apparently because the manufacturer did not test alternate formulations. The NIH covid treatment guidelines say that there's evidence Paxlovid should work when crushed, based on the review and reasoning of British Columbia's CDC. www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antivirals-including-antibody-products/ritonavir-boosted-nirmatrelvir--paxlovid-/

[@purplenights1]

The private marketplace is where healthcare should remain in all of it's forms.

[@BetterHealthWhileAging]

Any study of healthcare in developed countries finds that the US is in last place on many metrics, and our much more privatized healthcare system plays a large role in that. This is why most healthcare policy experts and public health experts favor less privatization.

[@purplenights1]

@@BetterHealthWhileAging What healthcare policy/health experts think does not necessarily correlate with what the people want. As you may well recall, nearly 70% of the American public were opposed to the Obama health care plan when it went into effect, especially the part about "fining" people who did not contribute to it. I think a public healthcare system is fine for those who want it, and are willing to pay into it, but there is also a place for private healthcare, and the American people deserve that choice. Even to this day, Obama's health care plan is struggling to stay relevant with the American people. So few Americans can find much in that program to be happy about.

[@jamesromano3288]

Thanks Doc,,,,,💩💩💩💩💩