With the White House planning to end the national emergency concerning COVID-19 on May 11, it seems like we may finally be coming to the end of the pandemic.
However, Louisiana State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said this doesn’t mean people should stop taking measures to protect themselves.
“We’re still seeing, you know, a higher likelihood of death for people who are unvaccinated,” he said. “And particularly if you were un-boosted.”
Kanter recently spoke with WWL’s Newell Normand about the expected end to a more than three-year-long emergency and how to stay protected from COVID-19 in the future.
In particular, he said that there is still too much to learn about the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 to rely on immunity from past infection as a means of protection. One reason is that the speed at which the virus mutates.
“We probably should stop calling it immunity and probably start calling it resistance, you know, because... this virus mutates so quickly,” said Kanter.
Even though the nation is preparing to end the COVID-19 emergency, Kanter said there are still concerns related to the virus. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data updated Friday, an average of around 450 people die from COVID-19 daily in the U.S.
“I mean, we’re looking at about 500 deaths a day across the country,” said Kanter. “I’m still interested in saving lives. I’m not going to accept that as the normal when there are easy things to do just to save lives.”
Listen to the full conversation here.
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