COVID-19 is now high risk in four Michigan counties — how should we be keeping ourselves protected?

It has been over two years since the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways we interacted as a community worldwide. And while we have done a lot to fight the spread of the virus, many are wondering when the pandemic will officially end.

In the meantime, the BA.5 Omicron subvariant — the most prevalent subvariant in the United States — is spreading and is four times more resistant to COVID-19 vaccines. Still, unvaccinated people are five times more likely to get infected and about fifteen times more likely to die from the disease than those than those vaccinated and boosted, according to the Mayo Clinic.

While we know that those vaccinated are likely to have more mild symptoms than the unvaccinated, the death rate from COVID-19 is still much higher than the flu and other contagious diseases.

“The real question is, what are the best health behaviors that we can adopt now, for our own selves but also for our family and children, that are going to protect us for years to come against chronic diseases and infectious diseases?” — Paul Kilgore, Wayne State University

Listen: What people should be doing to protect themselves from the Omicron subvariant.

Guest

Paul Kilgore is the co-director of the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University, and the senior investigator for Henry Ford Health System’s Global Health Initiative. He says exercise, a healthy diet, getting vaccinated, and checking in with one’s physician is the best way to keep people safe and healthy while the Omicron subvariant spreads.

“The real question is, what are the best health behaviors that we can adopt now, for our own selves but also for our family and children, that are going to protect us for years to come against chronic diseases and infectious diseases?” asks Kilgore.