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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The general public's attitude toward COVID is more relaxed than ever, even amid a summer surge.</li><li>Doctors say relaxed COVID precautions are to be expected and are not necessarily a bad thing.</li></ul>Gone are the days of scrubbing surfaces, sudden <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-shut-down-school-two-days-after-classes-started-2022-1">school closures</a>, and social distancing.Where a positive COVID-19 test once wrought panicked <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-mistakes-us-focus-on-contact-tracing-not-sequencing-2021-3">contract tracing </a>and guaranteed two weeks of isolation, these days, a diagnosis sparks relatively little worry for most people.Even amid a summer spike in cases — everyone from President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-19-2024-7#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20tested%20positive,Press%20Secretary%20Karine%20Jean%2DPierre.">Joe Biden</a> to the 2024 Summer Olympians seems to be battling the virus — the general public's attitude toward the pandemic that upended our lives more than four years ago is more relaxed than ever.The federal public health emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, officially <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-covid-19-global-health-emergency-is-over-who-says-2023-5">ending the crisis</a>, at least in name, more than three years after it was first declared. Since then, thanks to high infection and immunization rates, the country has continued climbing toward the herd immunity doctors so desperately sought in the early days of the pandemic, four medical professionals told Business Insider."The risk perception and anxiety around acute COVID infection has definitely lessened," said Dr. Anita Chopra, an internist at the University of Washington medical system. "People are interacting and mingling more like in pre-pandemic times."Healthcare professionals told BI that the public's more relaxed attitude toward COVID is ultimately a good thing. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-returning-to-normal-labor-market-vaccines-pandemic-2021-11">A return to normality</a> was the goal, after all.But COVID is still very present and very much a potential threat, especially for the immunocompromised and those unlucky enough to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-official-individuals-coronavirus-infection-unlucky-long-covid-2022-6">develop long COVID symptoms</a> — up to 10% of patients, according to some doctor estimates. Meanwhile, relaxed masking and declining vaccination rates, while to be expected at this point, could be linked to the rising case numbers doctors are seeing in clinics around the country, medical professionals told BI."We need to acknowledge that we're in a very different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic," said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of communicable disease epidemiology and immunizations at Public Health Seattle and King County. "But so long as COVID-19 continues to circulate, there are health implications to getting infected."<h2 id="8540c815-ae27-4465-8106-21a572b3f035">Evolving behaviors and beliefs</h2>Many of the early-day pandemic precautions have all but disappeared in 2024. Chief among them, according to doctors, are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-mandates-lifted-states-reasonable-experts-2022-2">masking</a>, isolations, and vaccinations.Soon after the pandemic emerged, medical professionals emphasized masking as a key way to slow the spread of the virus.The face coverings quickly became a contentious cultural topic and among the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-decision-to-oppose-masks-bizarre-self-sabotaging-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-6">most politicized aspects</a> of COVID. But these days, even many who once championed masks have ditched the deterrent entirely. An August 2023 Yahoo News/YouGov <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/only-12-percent-of-americans-wear-mask-in-public-194019882.html">poll</a> of 1,665 US adults found that 12% of respondents said they were masking — down from 60% in January 2022. And doctors told BI that they've seen a steady decrease in masking since then."I think the public has appropriately adjusted their attitudes to what they hear in the news and what they see around them," said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.More worrying to medical professionals is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-us-vaccination-sites-joe-biden-2021-4">decline in vaccinations.</a>While early immunization rates helped bolster immunity, vaccination uptake has been on the decline in recent years, and fewer and fewer people are keeping up to date with their booster shots, a preventive step the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html#:~:text=Everyone%20aged%205%20years%20and,of%20updated%20COVID%2D19%20vaccine.">CDC recommends</a> in its COVID guidelines.Most medical professionals also recommend a yearly COVID-19 vaccine. There's a new shot coming out in September. But Chow, who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the height of the pandemic, said most people aren't aware of the recommended vaccine schedule — a challenge that is indicative of a larger problem doctors are trying to navigate in this new COVID age."People are much more fatigued by COVID messaging," he said. "We're trying to right-size the appropriate message to make sure people continue to acknowledge the health impacts of COVID."<h2 id="3c719499-920d-46e7-b315-35ec4a1cdc50">The long COVID scare</h2>Relaxed attitudes are not necessarily a bad thing, according to doctors."I think it's to be expected as we learn more about the virus over these four years and as we've developed these other COVID countermeasures to address infection," said Dr. Jessica Bender, a primary care doctor at Harbor View Medical in Seattle and the co-director at the university's long COVID clinic.On the one hand, people are generally not getting as sick as they once did when ill with COVID, medical professionals told BI. On the other hand, this summer seems to have brought yet another COVID surge with a spike in cases.People don't typically equate respiratory illnesses with the warmer months, but an increase in summer socializing combined with the general decrease in preventive measures is likely fueling the uptick, Bender said.For an unlucky subset of patients, a COVID diagnosis — even in this new relaxed era — could mean <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-survivor-its-wrecked-my-life-2022-1">long-term challenges.</a>Doctors define long COVID as any infection related to the virus that is present for at least three months, said Chopra, who treats patients at the UW long COVID clinic. The often <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-workers-nurses-long-covid-impact-careers-labor-shortage-2022-5">debilitating</a> condition is indiscriminate in who it affects. Up to 10% of all people who get COVID are susceptible, according to Chopra, and patients of all ages, genders, races, and vaccination statuses can present with long COVID.<div type="image" title="A young girl gets a COVID vaccine" height="2661" width="4000" msid="112065018" hostid="261" sizebytes="341938"></div>Even as the country relaxes its COVID response, doctors said they are still seeing many new patients presenting with long COVID each day. The condition has at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/common-long-covid-symptoms-hair-loss-vertigo-low-libido-2022-7">200 known signs and symptoms</a> that range from shortness of breath to chronic fatigue and brain fog.Doctors told BI they'd treated several patients who have been forced to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-symptoms-disability-insurance-unemployment-quit-job-2022-11">stop working</a> or rendered unable to participate in any physical activity because of a long COVID diagnosis. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9721155/">study</a> published in the National Library of Medicine explored a possible link between long COVID and the risk of suicide because of the condition's tendency to inflict depression, anxiety, posttraumatic symptoms, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive deficits.Medical professionals are doing their best to understand long COVID, but admit that there's still much to learn. According to the CDC, about 17 million people <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm">reported</a> having long-term COVID-19 in March 2024.For these people, the pandemic is still very real."When I treat people with long COVID, they are always masked," Chopra said.<h2 id="c71342ed-0973-4d09-978b-dae3bd11fc3e">The future of COVID</h2>As doctors look to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-cross-says-world-is-dangerously-unprepared-for-next-pandemic-2023-1">future</a> of COVID, little is for sure."We always say the one thing that is predictable about COVID is its unpredictability," Chow said.But medical professionals told BI they are optimistic that even as the virus continues to evolve, the next few years will continue to look like the past year, with small seasonal surges and hopefully less intense illness.While lax attitudes may be a welcome sign of a cautious new normal, doctors said it's important to remember the lessons we've collectively learned from COVID. The precautions that proved useful against the virus protect people from other illnesses, too.Just because the world has adapted to COVID-19, medical professionals say, doesn't mean we should drop the hygiene, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-circulation-coronavirus-how-to-judge-ventilation-systems-2020-8">ventilation</a>, and masking lessons learned along the way."We've learned so much about how we can protect ourselves," Chow said. "It's hard to see people leave some of those precautions behind."Doctors recommend people gauge their individual risk, as well as the risk of those close to them when considering which precautions to take in this new COVID age. Most medical professionals still recommend masking, testing, and visiting a doctor after testing positive."We're aiming to get to a state where COVID is not a threat to our healthcare system," Bender said. "And not a threat to our lives and livelihoods.

Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad. 

A World Health Organization (<keyword id="6366244" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WHO" source="Orion">WHO</keyword>) panel on Friday strongly recommended baricitinib, a drug used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, for patients with severe or critical Covid-19 in combination with corticosteroids. The recommendation by <keyword id="10301077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="who-guideline-development-group" source="Orion">WHO Guideline Development Group</keyword> of international experts, published in The BMJ, is based on evidence that it improves survival and reduces the need for ventilation, with no observed increase in adverse effects. The WHO experts noted that baricitinib, a type of drug known as a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, has similar effects to other arthritis drugs called interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitors. The health body advised not to use both drugs at the same time, but to choose one based on cost, availability, and clinician experience. Further, the expert panel also advised against the use of two other JAK inhibitors -- ruxolitinib and tofacitinib -- for patients with severe or critical Covid-19. While trials have not shown any benefit, they have suggested a possible increase in serious side effects with tofacitinib. The WHO also made a conditional recommendation for the use of the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab in patients with non-severe Covid-19, but only in those at highest risk of hospitalisation, reflecting trivial benefits in those at lower risk. Similar recommendation has been made by the global health body for another monoclonal antibody drug -- casirivimab-imdevimab. The experts also noted that data is insufficient to recommend one monoclonal antibody treatment over another, while they acknowledge that their effectiveness against new variants like <keyword id="1609796" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="omicron" source="Orion">Omicron</keyword> is still uncertain. The WHO panel's recommendations are based on new evidence from seven trials involving over 4,000 patients with non-severe, severe, and critical Covid-19 infection. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-records-over-264202-fresh-covid-19-cases-and-315-deaths-in-the-last-24-hours/articleshow/88890170.cms">India reports over 2 lakh cases for a second consecutive day but recovery rate is over 95%</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/premiums-on-new-life-insurance-premiums-for-both-term-plans-and-endowment-are-rising/articleshow/88889744.cms">Premiums on new life insurance premiums for both term plans and endowment are rising</a>

WHO recommends two new drugs to treat patients with COVID-19

Experts of the <keyword id="6364396" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICMR" source="Orion">ICMR</keyword>'s National Task Force on COVID-19 for the fourth time have unanimously rejected the inclusion of <keyword id="9385138" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="anti-viral-drug" source="Orion">anti-viral drug</keyword> <keyword id="10880838" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Molnupiravir" source="Orion">Molnupiravir</keyword> in the coronavirus treatment guidelines saying its "known and unknown harms far outweigh its claimed benefit". Responding to a question over Molnupiravir's inclusion in the treatment guidelines amid doctors prescribing it, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said experts have had extensive debate and discussions and reviewed the data available from three trials on the drug on Monday. "We had extensive deliberation and the final conclusion was that Molnupiravir has certain risks that warrant caution in its use. Experts present in the meeting opined that there is a rampant and irrational use of Molnupiravir. Efforts should be made to restrict its use as known and unknown harms far outweigh its claimed benefit," he said on Wednesday. "The currently available synthesised evidence was reviewed and the members unanimously agreed that it does not merit the inclusion of Molnupuravir in the national treatment guidelines for COVID-19," Bhargava said. The emerging evidence will constantly be reviewed, he added. "And lastly it was further highlighted the current clinical window of application appears extremely narrow for Molnupiravir with relevance only to the following --elderly, unvaccinated, with other comorbidities. "There was no evidence of benefit in diabetes and those who were previously infected with COVID-19 or were vaccinated," he said. India's drug regulator on December 28 had approved the anti-Covid pill for restricted use in emergency situations. Molnupiravir is an antiviral that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by viral mutagenesis, the health ministry earlier had said in a statement. The UK MHRA on December 4 granted approval for Molnupiravir under special condition for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults with a positive SARS-COV-2 diagnostic test and who have at least one risk factor for developing severe illness. The USFDA on December 23 granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Molnupiravir for treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalisation or death, and for whom alternative <keyword id="8918466" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19-treatment" source="Orion">COVID-19 treatment</keyword> options authorised by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/study-shows-booster-dose-of-covaxin-has-neutralising-effect-on-omicron-delta-variants-says-bharat-biotech/articleshow/88867266.cms">Study shows booster dose of Covaxin has neutralising effect on Omicron, Delta variants, says Bharat Biotech</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/tcs-vs-infosys-vs-wipro-how-indias-three-it-giants-stack-up-against-each-other/slidelist/88860676.cms">TCS vs Infosys vs Wipro Q3 results – here’s how India’s three IT giants stack up against each other</a>

ICMR experts reject inclusion of Molnupiravir in COVID-19 treatment guidelines for fourth time citing safety concerns

The <keyword id="133825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajasthan-government" source="Orion">Rajasthan government</keyword> has issued <keyword id="10331584" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-Covid-guidelines" source="Orion">new Covid guidelines</keyword> under which the government and private educational institutes of the state have been allowed to operate with 100 per cent capacity from November 15. Also, the limit on the number of guests in wedding functions, which was 200 earlier, has been lifted now. The new guidelines were issued on Monday evening. <keyword id="6368049" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="home-department" source="Orion">Home Department</keyword> principal secretary <keyword id="135505" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="abhay-kumar" source="Orion">Abhay Kumar</keyword> issued orders that Classes from 1st to 12th in all the government and private schools as well as the private and government universities can be started from November 15 with 100 per cent capacity. In all coaching institutes, both educational and non-educational staff will also be able to come in full capacity and students will be able to study in 100 per cent capacity. The state government has also lifted the restrictions on the number of people attending the marriage ceremonies or other auspicious works. Along with this, political, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious gatherings, festivals celebrations, etc., are also permitted in public places. The Home Department said that there has been a steady decline in positive Covid cases. The state reported four new positive cases on Monday and has a total of 42 active cases so far. Meanwhile, it said that masks shall continue to be mandatory for the general public and testing, tracking and other treatment protocols and vaccination drives will continue. It is necessary to follow parameters regarding sanitisation, social distancing and ventilation in closed places.

Rajasthan government allows schools, colleges to run with 100% capacity

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11976521" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anthony-fauci" source="Orion">Anthony Fauci</keyword> said the CDC reduced its <keyword id="11893194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus" source="Orion">coronavirus</keyword> isolation guidelines to get people back to work.</li><li>The CDC cut the isolation period for people with asymptomatic <keyword id="11893994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> cases from 10 days to five.</li></ul>Dr. Anthony <keyword id="11933279" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fauci" source="Orion">Fauci</keyword> said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new coronavirus isolation guidelines were introduced to "get people back to jobs" because they would be able to return to work sooner.The CDC said on Monday that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-to-isolate-after-covid-cdc-expert-guidance-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">people with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases could isolate for just five days</a> and then wear a mask when around people for the next five days. People with COVID-19 previously were instructed to isolate for 10 days after their first positive test if they were asymptomatic.Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/videos/health/2021/12/27/fauci-intv-cdc-covid-isolation-guidelines-tsr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/">told CNN's Jim Acosta</a> that the CDC made the decision based on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omicron-variant-percent-new-covid-19-cases-cdc-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">the number of new cases</a> and the need to run the <keyword id="11893570" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy" source="Orion">economy</keyword> and essential services."With the sheer volume of new cases that we are having and that we expect to continue with Omicron, one of the things we want to be careful of is that we don't have so many people out," Fauci said. "If you are asymptomatic, and you are infected, we want to get people back to jobs."He added: "I think that was a very prudent and good choice on the part of the CDC, which we spent a considerable amount of time discussing, namely, getting people back in half the time that they would have been out so that they can get back to the workplace doing things that are important to keep society running smoothly."Fauci reiterated his comments in an interview with <a href="https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1476049896725749769">MSNBC's Chris Hayes</a> Tuesday night. He said that the new guidelines would enable the economy to run "not with a zero risk but with a markedly diminished risk.""That is the basis for that decision," he said.Fauci said that asymptomatic people with COVID-19 were more likely to have a high level of the virus and spread it within their first five days after testing positive. During the next five days, the level of the virus diminishes in most cases to the extent where wearing a mask is "ample protection," he said."When you balance that against the importance of trying to get people back functioning in society — plus, the alternative is something that no one wants, and that's to shut down completely, and we know that that's not going to be palatable to the American public," he said."This is one of those situations … that, we often say, you don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good," Fauci added.

Fauci says that the shortened COVID-19 isolation guidelines were designed to 'get people back to jobs'

The <keyword id="26362" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Government">government</keyword> on Monday revised the clinical guidance for COVID-19 treatment, dropping the off-label use of <keyword id="8956772" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="convalescent-plasma">convalescent plasma</keyword> as it was found not beneficial in reducing the progression to severe disease or death. The development came following a meeting of the ICMR-National Task Force for COVID-19 last week wherein all members were in favour of removing the use of convalescent plasma from the <keyword id="6379119" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="guidelines">guidelines</keyword> citing its ineffectiveness and inappropriate use in several cases. An Indian Council of Medical Research (<keyword id="6364396" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICMR">ICMR</keyword>) official said the task force "revised" the Clinical Guidance for Management of Adult COVID-19 Patients and "dropped convalescent plasma (off label)". The previous guidelines recommended off-label use of plasma therapy at the stage of early moderate disease, that is, within seven days of the onset of symptoms and if there is availability of a high titre donor plasma. The decision to remove it from the guidelines comes in the backdrop of some clinicians and scientists writing to Principal Scientific Advisor K VijayRaghavan cautioning against the "irrational and non-scientific use" of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 in the country. In the letter, which was also marked to ICMR chief Balram Bhargava and <keyword id="40458" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="AIIMS">AIIMS</keyword> Director Randeep Guleria, public health professionals alleged that the current guidelines on plasma therapy are not based on existing evidence and pointed out some very early evidence that indicates a possible association between emergence of variants with "lower susceptibility to neutralising antibodies in immunosuppressed" people given plasma therapy. This raises the possibility of more virulent strains developing due to irrational use of plasma therapy which can fuel the pandemic, according to the letter signed by vaccinologist Gagandeep Kang, surgeon Pramesh C S and others. "We are writing to you as concerned clinicians, public health professionals and scientists from <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> about the irrational and non- scientific use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 in the country. "This has stemmed from guidelines issued by government agencies, and we request your urgent intervention to address the issue which can prevent harassment of COVID-19 patients, their families, their clinicians and COVID-19 survivors," said the letter. "The current research evidence unanimously indicates that there is no benefit offered by convalescent plasma for treatment of COVID-19. However, it continues to be prescribed rampantly in hospitals across India," the letter said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-said-to-rival-apples-privacy-push-with-android-12-while-taking-care-of-its-advertising-business/articleshow/82729724.cms">Google said to rival Apple’s privacy push with Android 12 while taking care of its advertising business</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-has-six-months-to-answer-these-five-questions/articleshow/82729482.cms">Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has six months to answer these five questions</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/indian-cryptocurrency-exchange-wazirx-has-listed-shiba-inu-tokens-for-trading-in-indian-rupees/articleshow/82731429.cms">WazirX has listed Shiba Inu — here's everything you need to know about the said Dogecoin killer</a>

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Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad.

Erin Snodgrass

WHO recommends two new drugs to treat patients with COVID-19

IANS

ICMR experts reject inclusion of Molnupiravir in COVID-19 treatment guidelines for fourth time citing safety concerns

PTI

Rajasthan government allows schools, colleges to run with 100% capacity

IANS

Fauci says that the shortened COVID-19 isolation guidelines were designed to 'get people back to jobs'

Grace Dean

Indian government drops plasma therapy from guidelines for COVID-19 management

PTI

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