Why does it circulate in the summer and not be seasonal like the flu?

While the trend is starting to decline, there has been a rise in the number of people infected this summer COVID-19as shown by surveillance data from the National Epidemiology Center of the Carlos III Health Institute. Why did this happen? Why, unlike other viruses, is SARS-CoV-2 still so active in the summer months?

From the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE), Angela Dominguez remember that it is important to understand that COVID is not a seasonal viruslike the flu virus. So the fact that it’s summer shouldn’t make us think there’s no risk. We see that it’s increases slightly now, and so what we need to do is protect ourselves with the means that we have and that we know.

“What you need to do is monitor any increase and, above all, to act on what we have learned in these four years of living with Covid. What have we learned? What is important protect vulnerable peoplewhich can have the greatest consequences, as the disease can require hospitalization, admission to an intensive care unit, and even death.

Dominguez explains that summer This is one of the factors that is driving the resurgence of Covid cases, because, as in this case, “there is no activity from either the influenza virus or the respiratory syncytial virus, because Covid has every reason to be able to infect, so to speak, it has no competition with other viruses. Likewise, we must remember that we have only known about SARS-Cov-2 for four years, whereas we have known about influenza viruses or other diseases for many decades. Therefore, this is a virus that has a lot to learn.

Moreover, the epidemiologist emphasizes that, despite the presence of “immunity generated by both vaccination and the disease itself, over time this protection decreases. a virus that mutates. New options are emergingsubvariants and in some ways they circulate because they are able to cope with existing immunity.” In addition, summer, being a season of great socialization and grouping of people, contributes to the spread of this virus.

Symptoms to be aware of

The new variant that is mainly circulating is BA2.86. The symptoms are similar to those acute respiratory infections“Fever, cough, sneezing. Sometimes sore throat, fatigue, headache, joint pain, and sometimes also loss of taste and smell,” Dominguez explains.

“Non-pharmacological measures should always be used,” the epidemiologist emphasizes. It is important to maintain full care for the most vulnerable people, as they are the priority group to be protected. “Anything that helps slow down the transmissionIn a sense, this will prevent and reduce the likelihood that a vulnerable person will come into contact with a circulating virus,” Dominguez concludes.