SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – As the latest COVID-19 variant drives up cases across the country, the mindset and attitude around COVID-19 have changed drastically now than at the beginning of the pandemic.
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Between pandemic fatigue and the increased immunity throughout the majority of the population, the virus isn't taken as seriously by most as it used to be.
"There's a certain amount of fatigue and burnout about listening to this and thinking and caring about the pandemic," Dr. Robert Siegel, a professor with the department of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University on KCBS Radio’s "Ask an Expert" on Friday with Margie Shafer.
"The news cycle has also eclipsed the pandemic," he said. "There's all kinds of big things going on."
The political situation in the United States, not to mention the recent extreme storms, have caught attention more than the pandemic.
"I also think a big factor is that in some sense, there's a sense of equilibrium," said Siegel. "Because of vaccination, because of familiarity, it's sort of dropped out of the news cycle."
But the virus is still a concern, and the most important thing at this stage of the pandemic is to reach the right balance of mindfulness around COVID-19.
Fortunately, people have more options to protect themselves against COVID-19 now than they did at the beginning of the pandemic.
"The best way to think about this is to think about using a multi-pronged approach," he said. "Certainly the most important prong of this is making sure people are vaccinated and protected immunologically."
But strategies that worked in the beginning still work now, like masking and distancing, which most people don’t do much anymore.
"As people drop one thing they should make sure they double up on the other things," he said.
It's especially important to keep this in mind right now, as the fallout from the travels and vacations people took over the holidays is likely about to hit.
In the long term, we have to prepare for the new variant, XBB.1.5, which will soon make its way over to the west coast.
Looking even further ahead, there’s going to be fallout from what’s currently going on in China following their end of COVID-19 safety protocols.
"It would be appropriate to keep COVID-19 in mind and make sure we're up to date," said Siegel.
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