Got a Mask? Here Come COVID-19 Warnings From WA Officials

Medical officials at the University of Washington are warning about more aggressive omicron variants of COVID-19 that are spreading around the world including Washington State.

THE VARIANTS ARE MORE AGGRESSIVE THEN BEFORE

They say the variants "latch onto cells more tightly, invade them more efficiently, and elude many of the antibodies induced by previous infections and vaccines."
That concern is driving health officials from Yakima to Florida to consider new masking and other restrictive policies that some say protect people from the spread of the disease.

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WILL YOU COMPLY WITH NEW MASKING REQUIREMENTS IF THEY COME BACK?

Many people however say they will not comply with any new masking requirements hoping if masking does come back it will be voluntary.
A multinational team of researchers reporting the findings in the journal Nature. The researchers say the new variants evade many of the antibodies induced by exposure to the earlier variants. However, the researchers say they also found previous infection or vaccination did help "generate antibodies that do recognize some proteins found on newer variants."

SO FAR NO CONCERN FOR A GROWTH IN LOCAL CASES

So the researchers say that response may explain why previous "exposure to earlier variants or vaccinations reduces the risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death with reinfection by a newer variant."
Yakima Health District officials continue to track COVID-19 in Yakima and so far there's been no spike in cases and no spike in cases around the region.

For more information check the Yakima Health District COVID-19 page;

https://www.yakimacounty.us/2323/COVID-19