The risk of COVID-19 exposure from high-touch surfaces within grocery stores is low if physical distancing guidelines and recommended cleaning protocols are followed.
Delta is more contagious and appears to be more deadly. And it’s more likely to land those infected in hospital and intensive care. Here’s what the latest evidence says about the dominant variant.
Rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, designed for use at home, can show results in 15 minutes.
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Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Making rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 cheaper and more accessible can catch the infectious cases before they spread and help everyone resume normal activities safely.
The huge number of active coronavirus infections offers plenty of opportunity for mutations to occur and new variants to arise.
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When the coronavirus copies itself, there is a chance its RNA will mutate. But new variants must jump from one host to another, and the more infections there are, the better chance this will happen.
Amid uncertainties about what the pandemic will look like this fall, experts answer questions about risks of infection in unvaccinated children and the risks of missing in-person school.
We are being cautious about the implications for vaccine efficacy and transmissibility while we gather more data to understand this lineage.
To reduce the spread of COVID-19 in unvaccinated children, epidemiologists rely on a layered approach of interventions including masking, ventilation, cohorting and promoting vaccination for all eligible community members.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
With no vaccination yet in children under 12, preventing COVID-19 spread in schools depends on fine-tuning policy interventions according to local epidemiology and vaccination rates.
Masks are an important tool for slowing the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
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In Africa, it’s more rational to prioritise vaccine access, rapid rollout and community engagement, than pushing the narrative of vaccine-induced population immunity.
The Sars-CoV-2 virus creates about half a mutation per infection.
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SARS-Cov-2 has experienced roughly the same amount of evolutionary change during the pandemic as humans have since Homo habilis first walked the Earth about 2.5m years ago.
Vaccination, masking and social distancing are tried and true ways to protect against COVID-19 infection.
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New variants of the COVID-19 virus may be more contagious and cause more severe disease than the original. A pediatrician and infectious disease specialist explains why.
Amid growing COVID-19 transmission, hospitalization and death rates, mask mandates are returning in some states.
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After the CDC changed course in late July, recommending universal masking indoors, Nevada became the first state to adopt a flexible masking policy that can quickly adjust to changing COVID-19 rates.
The Lambda variant accounts for almost all new cases in Peru, which has the world’s highest COVID death toll per capita.
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Preliminary evidence suggests Lambda has an easier time infecting our cells and is a bit better at dodging our immune systems. But vaccines should still do a good job against it.
Britain is ‘opening up’ after months of COVID-19 restrictions. But it could also be opening itself up to court action for breaching international human rights laws.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand