URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of Mutations and natural selection can help subsequent versions of a virus get stronger and stronger in different ways, which seems to be happening with the Covid-19 coronavirus. As such, Omicron has a slightly shorter clearance phase, 5.35 days as compared to 6.23 days for Delta, as Omicron has a lower peak viral load. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you get tested 5-7 days after "close contact with a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19." The CDC defines close contact as being less than 6 feet away from an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. Omicron started off as three subvariants (that is, a group of viruses from the same parent virus) all appearing in late November 2021 in South Africa: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. These data points raise a sort of transmission paradox. You'll also want to consider your own personal risk for COVID-19, that of those close to you, and your combined risk tolerance for public situations. COVID-19 cases have been declining across the country. My husband and I are vaccinated and boosted. September 7, 2022. Still, he says, you have to be close to the infected person or downwind of them. Emanuel Goldman, a microbiology professor at the New Jersey Medical School of Rutgers University, said in an article published in The Lancet journal in 2020 that the risk of COVID-19 infection from surfaces at that time was "exaggerated.". COVID-19 still can be transmitted in outdoor settings . Finally, this investigation occurred during a period when testing and sequencing capacity was strained and when many persons traveled and attended gatherings, increasing the possibility that household contacts had unknown SARS-CoV-2 exposures outside the home (6). And while things are admittedly looking up, infection rates are low and (in many locations . . But Omicron was a game changer, in more ways than one. 45 C.F.R. All this to say your protection outdoors isnt what it was in 2020and it may be time to begin thinking more critically about outdoor gatherings. What This Means For You. On smooth surfaces, Omicron lasted more than a week, while infectious amounts of the original virus were recovered up to just four days on polypropylene plastic and stainless and up to seven days on glass. Dr. Dumois: The Omicron variant is far more contagious than anything we ve seen with this coronavirus, so this is very much a different virus than any of the variants we have seen before. But that doesn't mean that being outdoors isn't going to. Outdoors Lower Risk Well-ventilated indoors Moderate Risk Poorly ventilated indoors Higher Risk When do infected people transmit the virus? Analysis of AR among household contacts excluded eight persons with unknown case status (persons for whom it was not known whether COVID-19compatible symptoms were present and whether SARS-CoV-2 testing had occurred [or if testing occurred, the results were unknown]). Omicron subvariant BA.5 may be the most contagious version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that we've seen yetand even situations that have seemed relatively low-risk as of late, like outdoor gatherings, may now pose a greater threat. But Marr stressed the study's conditions don't reflect real-world scenarios. Multicomponent COVID-19 prevention strategies, including up-to-date vaccination, isolation of infected persons, and mask use at home, are critical to reducing Omicron transmission in household settings. Persons who reported any signs or symptoms during the course of their recent illness were considered to have COVID-19compatible symptoms. Fully vaccinated was defined as completion of the primary vaccination series 2 weeks before the index date and stratified into completion <5 months or 5 months before the index date. Based on the data from the Gauteng province alone, the Omicron variant transmissibility compared to SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Delta variant were 100.3% and 36.5%, respectively. Crowded settings can raise your likelihood of being close to someone with COVID-19. Higher outdoor wind speeds on warmer days were associated with up to a 45% lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in social gatherings. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." Rodney E. Rohde, PhD, a virologist and professor of clinical laboratory science at Texas State University, tells SELF that many people have seen the outdoors as a get out of jail free cardbut that has never really been the case. MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is a lot more contagious, so you could be in an outdoor setting and if you are close to someone who isn t wearing a mask and you re not wearing a mask, you . If a community level is high, you may want to reschedule your trip or be extra cautious. But are new subvariants changing that? A simple cloth mask is much less effective, especially against a variant as contagious as BA.2. Please check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most updated recommendations. The first is arming yourself with information about community levels in the area to which you're traveling; the CDC's community levels tracker can give you county-by-county information on hospital admissions and COVID-19 case counts. "I think we shouldn't drop our guard against SARS-CoV-2, period.". Jurisdictions identified persons who were considered potentially eligible for participation through obtaining laboratory line lists of persons who had sequence-confirmed Omicron (B.1.1.529 lineage and its sublineages) or whose sequencing results were pending. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School. And while it is known that BA.4 and BA.5 are more transmissible than other variants, it is not yet clear if they are spreading outdoors any more than other variants. "But for something that's very efficient at spreading like BA.5 is, it won't be as protective.". Researchers say infections can happen outdoors, but the chances are massively reduced. The same tried-and-true measures that have been encouraged since 2020washing your hands often, wearing a high-quality mask, testing regularly, and staying up to date with boostersstill work to curb the spread of COVID-19. Someone coughing and sneezing will exhale droplets that can transmit the virus. Five studies described influenza transmission outdoors and 2 adenovirus transmission outdoors. Overall, spending time outside is a safer mechanism of prevention against COVID because of the unlimited ventilation. Are there certain settings where COVID-19 can spread more easily? After conducting lab-based research, the team found Omicron "is more stable than the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces.". Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Data from South Africa found that two doses of the vaccine provided up to 87% of protection against hospitalization with BA.5, as Bloomberg reported. According to Dr. Blaivas, it's helpful to think of these changes in BA.5 (and other variants that have outcompeted their predecessors) as "upgrades" to make them better fit to survive (aka, infect humans). FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Masks are still effective at protecting you against COVID-19 even if you're the only person wearing one. The AR was lower among household contacts of index patients who isolated (41.2%, 99 of 240) compared with those of index patients who did not isolate (67.5%, 112 of 166, p-value<0.01). Similarly, the AR was lower among household contacts of index patients who ever wore a mask at home during their potentially infectious period (39.5%, 88 of 223) compared with those of index patients who never wore a mask at home (68.9%, 124 of 180) (p-value <0.01). In this investigation, a confirmed case in a household contact was defined as having received a positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification test result or antigen test result 14 days after the index date (date of the index patients symptom onset or positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification test result or antigen test result), and a probable case in a household contact was defined as the presence of COVID-19compatible symptoms during the same 14-day period but without a positive SARS-CoV-2 test confirmation. ARs among household contacts were estimated overall, by household contact characteristics, and by index patient characteristics, by dividing the number of household contacts with confirmed and probable cases by the total number of household contacts within a given stratum. Omicron may hang around longer on surfaces than original virus, early findings suggest | CBC News Loaded. The new year arrived with an omicron-fueled surge in COVID cases in Alameda County, causing widespread concern and resulting in a number of event cancellations and temporary business closures that recall the pandemic's earlier days.. and/or the original MMWR paper copy for printable versions of official text, figures, and tables. However, if you live in a cold locale as she does, you may want to leave your mask on for warmth. Of course, omicron is the most transmissible variant yet. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Research before the emergence of the delta variant indicated that the risk of getting infected with the coronavirus was up to 20 times lower outside compared to inside and the chance of. Roberts added that since BA.5 is more transmissible than prior variants indoors, it is likely that its more transmissible outdoors, too. The main way people get infected, most leading public health officials and scientists now agree, isthrough exposure to this virus through the air, not through contaminated surfaces known scientifically as "fomites.". That, combined with the sheer volume of cases, could mean that there could be more cases of outdoor transmission, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. **** A negative SARS-CoV-2 test result was reported on the day of or after symptom onset by 38.8% (19 of 49) of household contacts classified as having probable COVID-19 and 68.6% (140 of 204) of those classified as not having COVID-19. Right now were waiting on additional data to confirm that COVID transmission is occurring outdoors.. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website. This German snowman wears a protective mask over its banana nose and mouth, but experts say the risk of catching COVID outdoors is slim. . How Well Do Rapid COVID Tests Detect Omicron and Its Subvariants? Now, since everyone is spending more time outside because of summer and there is a very transmissible virus circulating, people may be getting infected with BA.5 outdoors more frequently. CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The other/multiple race category included American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, another race specified by the person not in the provided list, or multiple races. The other/multiple races category included American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, another race specified by the person not in the provided list, or multiple races. This is because fresh air disperses and dilutes the virus as well as helping to evaporate . Surfaces play less of a role than aerosol transmission, but its still good practice to wash your hands well or to use hand sanitizer if you shake peoples hands and touch frequently used surfaces. New research is pointing to the answer, 2 years into the pandemic, burning questions remain about COVID-19 and how we fight it, scientific consensus began to crystallize, CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. How does COVID-19 spread between people? Dr. Mallika Marshall explains: Omicron. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.27.21268278v1, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.09.22268984v1, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.16.21262121v2. A used mask is seen on beach at marine protected area located in St. Martin's Island, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on March 13. Models for longitudinal data: a generalized estimating equation approach. Omicron Subvariants Mean Outdoor Covid Risk Is Different Now Media outlets report on the rise of omicron BA.5, and how subvariants like this are leading to new covid surges and have. Fifth, this investigation did not definitively distinguish between secondary and potential tertiary cases within a household. mmwrq@cdc.gov. The estimated overall AR in this investigation is consistent with the range of ARs observed in other Omicron transmission studies (3), and higher than those associated with some other SARS-CoV-2 variants. These findings underscore the importance of implementation of multicomponent prevention measures for reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in household settings, including from the Omicron variant (4). 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