An epidemiologist answers viewers’ questions about COVID-19

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• Judy Woodruff:

  In year three of the pandemic, most Americans have returned to a sense of some normalcy, but the virus is still disrupting daily life.

  The U.S. is recording roughly 130,000 new cases per day, and deaths are on the rise, with an average now of more than 430 a day.

  We reached out to viewers for their latest questions about risk and safety.

  And we get some answers once again from Katelyn Jetelina. She's an epidemiologist with the University of Texas. And she writes the "Your Local Epidemiologist" newsletter on Substack.

  Katelyn Jetelina, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

  And let's just plunge into these questions.

  First, Sophie from New York City is writing. She says: "Is there a definitive answer to how long after you have COVID you can continue to test positive on an antigen home test? Is it worth testing to get out of isolation, or is there no value in that?"

  Katelyn Jetelina, University of Texas Health Science Center: Yes, so we see really strong evidence that an Omicron infection lasts on average about eight to 10 days.

  Some people will be infectious for less. And this is especially true if you're vaccinated. The vaccine helps you clear that virus faster. But some will be infectious for even longer than that 10 days. And you won't really know unless you test using an at-home antigen test.

  These tests are really great at telling you whether you're infectious or not, specifically great at using test to exit, or to exit isolation to ensure you're not contagious and to transmitting it to others.

• Judy Woodruff:

  So, a second question.

  This is James Loran from Port Angeles, Washington. And he's asking: "When is it safe for me, an immunocompromised person, to be maskless within six feet of a vaccinated and boosted person who's tested positive for COVID?"

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  This is a really good question, James.

  And, again, I think it lies on leveraging these tools we have, like the rapid antigen tests. If that friend is positive on an at-home antigen test, I would be very comfortable once they turn negative. And specifically because you are high risk, I would make sure that they test negative twice, maybe within 12 to 24 hours, to ensure

  One thing to keep in mind is, if that person who was positive that you're visiting is on Paxlovid, we're seeing this phenomenon called rebounding. So they could turn negative and then turn positive a few days later.

  And you just want to ensure that that doesn't happen with your friend before seeing them.

• Judy Woodruff:

  That's interesting.

  All right, so this question is from Scott Cummings from Hopkins, Minnesota.

  And he asks: "When do I need my second booster? I'm a 32-year-old teacher."

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  It's such a good question, Scott.

  So it looks like the FDA was trying to decide if those under 50 needed a second booster or not before fall. It looks like they're not going to be authorizing that second booster. So, all of us under 50 will have to wait for our second booster when the Omicron-specific vaccine comes out.

  This means that, if you hadn't had your booster for a while, and you haven't been recently infected, there's not great — you don't have great protection against infection with the vaccine alone. So we really need to mask up right now, especially during this surge.

  It's really important to know, though, that the one booster does really well in reducing hospitalization and death for those under 50. And so you can be considered very confident in your first booster in preventing severe disease right now.

• Judy Woodruff:

  So, onto this question. This is from Elizabeth Zoob of Boston, Massachusetts.

• She asks:

  "If one gets COVID, does taking an antiviral or a monoclonal antibody treatment reduce the risk of contracting long COVID?"

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  This is a really big question in research right now.

  So, beyond vaccination, it's unclear whether early treatments like antivirals have an effect on long COVID. Antivirals help slow the replication of the virus, and thus it reduces severe disease. So, in theory, we hypothesize that it may reduce the severity of long COVID.

  But it's important to recognize that long COVID isn't always associated with severe disease. Studies show that asymptomatic people or those even with just mild disease can have long COVID. So, it's really hard to know right now without that robust scientific evidence. Basically, we don't know yet.

• Judy Woodruff:

  It's all right to say that sometimes.

  (LAUGHTER)

• Judy Woodruff:

  So, here's the last question on COVID.

  This is from Rachel L. in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

  And she says: "As a family, we have kept our risk low for our 2-year-old. She's now getting vaccinated, and we are struggling with what activities are considered low risk, moderate risk and high risk. Are they the same as they were a year ago?"

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  You know, if everyone is fully vaccinated — and I'm in this area right now too. My two little girls are getting their second dose of the vaccine finally.

  And if everyone is fully vaccinated, you have a really, really good bubble around you right now. The people I really worry about that are not fully vaccinated, and it's especially those over 65 and plus. And so if you're going to go see grandparents or great-grandparents, it's important that you don't just rely on the vaccine, but you also do antigen testing, and you use masks if you're in a really high-risk area, so you ensure that you do break transmission chains to those more high-risk individuals.

• Judy Woodruff:

  All right, so we have one more question for you. And this is about monkeypox.

  You wrote a column today comparing COVID-19 to monkeypox, the similarities, the differences. Tell us what lessons you came away with after looking at the two.

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  I think it's very natural for us to compare one public health disease to another.

  And the similarities are that we don't have the best public health infrastructure right now. There's a lot of misinformation being circulated. And there's still a lot of answers we don't know.

  And — but the differences are that this is a very different virus. It's not primarily transmitted through the air. It's transmitted through very close contact, which means that we can contain it if we act fast. We need to be sure that window isn't closing.

  So, we really have to do all we can to contain this before it establishes itself as another health risk in our repertoire.

• Judy Woodruff:

  A lot more information needs to be spread about monkeypox.

  Katelyn Jetelina, we thank you so much for joining us.

• Katelyn Jetelina:

  Thanks for having me.