Category: Covid-19

SPOKANE - 40-year-old Nathan Michael Triano of Davenport, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges related to misuse of COVID-19 relief funds. The admission occurred before United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice, who has scheduled sentencing for August 7, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. in Spokane.

During court proceedings, Triano acknowledged that he fraudulently secured six Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans totaling $140,865 by submitting false information about various alleged businesses. This deceit not only led to wrongful disbursement of the PPP funds but also caused an additional loss of $15,000 in lender fees, bringing the total financial impact to at least $155,865.

U.S. Attorney Waldref expressed strong disapproval of the fraudulent activities, emphasizing the government's dedication to pursuing justice. "...these defendants repeatedly used fraudulent schemes to defraud the United States Government and take critical funds that were to be used as a lifeline to small and local businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic," Waldref stated. He assured that efforts to prosecute those who exploited the pandemic relief efforts would persist.

The case, officially recorded as United States v. Triano, was diligently investigated by the Eastern District of Washington COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force alongside several federal agencies including the SBA Office of Inspector General, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and the Department of Homeland Securitys Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Inspector General.

Assistant United States Attorneys Frieda K. Zimmerman and Jeremy J. Kelley were leading the prosecution of Triano's case.

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Davenport Man Admits to COVID-19 Relief Wire Fraud | Columbia Basin | yoursourceone.com - Source ONE News

Changing peoples behavior until a vaccine could be developed prevented roughly 800,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., far more than many scientists predicted was possible, according to new CU Boulder and UCLA research.

But the authors stress that interventions like lockdowns and school closures came at great costone that could be reduced in future pandemics if the country had a better infrastructure for gathering public health data.

The paper was published in the spring edition of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity.

Our work shows that behavior change can be a powerful force for slowing the spread of a dangerous and infectious respiratory disease for a long time, said co-author Stephen Kissler, an assistant professor of computer science at CU Boulder. But with COVID-19, it came at a tremendous economic, social and human cost.

As an epidemiologist at the beginning of the pandemic, I certainly did not think that we could have kept it up for as long as we needed to in order to avert as many deaths as we did. Stephen Kissler

For the study, Kissler, a mathematical epidemiologist, teamed up with Andrew Atkeson, a professor of economics at UCLA, to answer a fundamental but unanswered question:

How many deaths from COVID-19 were prevented by behavioral interventions like masking and social distancing, combined with vaccines?

The authors gathered national serology data from blood samples to estimate how many people had been infected or vaccinated at various points from February 2020 to February 2024 and mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control.

Then, they used computer models to mathematically recreate the pandemic as it happened, factoring in the role of behavioral changes.

By tinkering with the model inputs to simulate different scenarios they were able to ask questions like: How many people would have died if no one had done things like wear masks or practice social distancing? Or how many people would have died if the vaccines never came?

The study found that vaccines and behavioral changes were inextricably linked.

Without vaccines, behavior alone would have postponed infections, but in the end, nearly everyone would have been infected and subject to a high infection fatality rate from that first infection, they wrote. Without a behavioral response, vaccines would have come too late to save lives.

They found that, thanks largely to behavioral changes, 68% of Americans were able to get vaccinated before ever being infected.

Had they gotten COVID for the first time without being vaccinated, their risk of dying would have been as much as four times higher.

Absent the two-pronged strategy, 1.98 million people in the U.S. would have died of COVID in the last four years vs. the 1.18 million that did succumb to the disease. The pandemic would have ripped through the country in the first eight months, taking 60,000 lives per day at its peak.

The authors estimate that the slowdown in vaccine uptake during the second half of 2021, as the virus mutated, cost an additional 273,000 preventable deaths from the Delta and Omicron variants.

Kissler and Atkeson were surprised at just how big an impact behavior changes had, as pre-pandemic studies forecast their impact would be minimal.

One study found that behavioral interventions reduced transmission by less than 50% during the 1918 influenza epidemic, and people only changed their behavior for about 15 weeks. Another study forecast that if a pandemic hit the U.S., and vaccines came more than 120 days after the first case, they would essentially be useless because most people would have already been infected.

In reality, only one in five Americans (and a much smaller proportion of people over age 65) had been infected by the time COVID-19 vaccines were made available, 11 months after the first case.

By the numbers

As an epidemiologist at the beginning of the pandemic, I certainly did not think that we could have kept it up for as long as we needed to in order to avert as many deaths as we did, said Kissler.

That said, the authors worry that if another pandemic were to emerge, Americans would be less willing to stay home.

My concern is that the next pandemic will be deadlier, but people will ignore it, because they will say, Oh, we overdid it during COVID, said Atkeson.

He and Kissler acknowledge that some behavioral changes made during COVID, such as requiring masks on outdoor hiking trails, ended up being unnecessary. But knowledge about transmission was still lacking.

They say U.S. policy makers should prioritize developing a more centralized national infrastructure for gathering data on how people move around and interact to spread viruses and what behaviors work best to contain them.

We stumbled through (COVID) without a plan. We were basically flying blind, said Atkeson.

The researchers noted that the CDC Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is already working to develop a system similar to the National Weather Service to provide forecasts on the countrys epidemiological conditions.

They point to the recent Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) outbreak, which was contained relatively swiftly with targeted behavioral interventions and vaccines, as a great success.

The behavioral changes needed to prevent disease spread can look very different from one community to the next and one virus to the next, said Kissler. If we have more granular, timely data to work with we can do a much better job of targeting interventions so we dont have to just stop everything.

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Social distancing plus vaccines prevented 800000 COVID deaths, but at great cost - University of Colorado Boulder

After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies, and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization (WHO) and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.

A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups, and others to finalize a "pandemic treaty" is scheduled to end Friday. The accord's aim: guidelines for how the WHO's 194 member countries might stop future pandemics and better share scarce resources. But experts warn there are virtually no consequences for countries that don't comply.

WHO's countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee talks for a pandemic agreement in 2021. Envoys have been working long hours in recent weeks to prepare a draft ahead of a self-imposed deadline later this month: ratification of the accord at WHO's annual meeting. But deep divisions could derail it.

U.S. Republican senators wrote a letter to the Biden administration last week critical of the draft for focusing on issues like "shredding intellectual property rights" and "supercharging the WHO." They urged Biden not to sign off.

Britain's department of health said it would only agree to an accord if it was "firmly in the U.K. national interest and respects national sovereignty."

And many developing countries say it's unfair that they might be expected to provide virus samples to help develop vaccines and treatments, but then be unable to afford them.

"This pandemic treaty is a very high-minded pursuit, but it doesn't take political realities into account," said Sara Davies, PhD, a professor of international relations at Griffith University in Australia.

For example, the accord is attempting to address the gap that occurred between COVID-19 vaccines in rich and poorer countries, which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said amounted to "a catastrophic moral failure."

The draft says WHO should get 20% of the production of pandemic-related products like tests, treatments, and vaccines and urges countries to disclose their deals with private companies.

"There's no mechanism within WHO to make life really difficult for any countries that decide not to act in accordance with the treaty," Davies said.

Adam Kamradt-Scott, PhD, a global health expert at Harvard University, said that similar to the global climate agreements, the draft pandemic treaty would at least provide a new forum for countries to try to hold each other to account, where governments will have to explain what measures they've taken.

The pandemic treaty "is not about anyone telling the government of a country what it can do and what it cannot do," said Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO's negotiating board for the agreement.

There are legally binding obligations under the International Health Regulations, including quickly reporting dangerous new outbreaks. But those have been flouted repeatedly, including by African countries during Ebola outbreaks and China in the early stages of COVID-19.

Suerie Moon, PhD, co-director of the Global Health Center at Geneva's Graduate Institute, said it was critical to determine the expected role of WHO during a pandemic and how outbreaks might be stopped before spreading globally.

"If we fail to seize this window of opportunity which is closing ... we'll be just as vulnerable as we were in 2019," she warned.

Some countries appear to be moving on their own to ensure cooperation from others in the next pandemic. Last month, the Biden administration said it would help 50 countries respond to new outbreaks and prevent global spread, giving the country leverage should it need critical information or materials in the future.

Yuanqiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors without Borders, said it's unclear what might be different in the next pandemic, but hoped that focusing attention on some of the glaring errors that emerged in COVID-19 might help.

"We will mostly have to rely on countries to do better," she said. "That is worrisome."

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Nations Struggle to Draft 'Pandemic Treaty' to Avoid Mistakes Made During COVID - Medpage Today

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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. 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New omicron 'FLiRT' variants account for most COVID-19 cases in the US - Miami County Republic

New Delhi, May 8 (PTI) UK-based pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca has started global withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine, which was provided in India as 'Covishield' in partnership with Serum Institute of India, days after it admitted to rare side-effects of blood clotting and lowering of platelet counts. The withdrawal has been initiated due to a surplus of available updated vaccines since the pandemic, the company said in a statement. In India, the company's partner Serum Institute of India (SII) said it has stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield since December 2021 while reiterating that it had disclosed all rare to very rare side-effects, including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, in the packaging insert in 2021. AstraZeneca had partnered with Oxford University to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, which was sold in India as Covishield and as Vaxzevria in Europe. "As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzervria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied," AstraZeneca said. The company further said, "We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic." Earlier, according to global media reports, AstraZeneca had admitted that its Covid-19 vaccine could in very rare cases has the potential to cause a rare side-effect called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS). Without referring to the side-effects, the company said, "We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally." It further said, "Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic." The European Medicines Agency, the medicines regulator for the European Union (EU), issued a notice on Tuesday to confirm that Vaxzevria -- known as Covishield in India -- is no longer authorised for use in the 27-member economic bloc after AstraZeneca voluntarily withdrew its authorisation in March. It said it will similarly work with regulatory authorities worldwide to initiate marketing authorisation withdrawals for Vaxzevria as demand has been overtaken by the evolving nature of coronaviruses. In a separate statement, SII spokesperson said, "With India achieving high vaccination rates in 2021 and 2022, coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains, the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantly. Consequently, since December 2021, we have stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield." The SII spokesperson further said, "We fully understand the ongoing concerns and it is crucial to emphasise our commitment to transparency and safety. From the outset, we have disclosed all rare to very rare side-effects, including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, in the packaging insert in 2021." Despite the challenges faced during the global pandemic, the safety of the vaccine remains paramount. "Regardless of whether it's AstraZeneca's Vaxzervria or our own Covishield, both vaccines have been instrumental in saving millions of lives worldwide," the spokesperson asserted. In India, over 220 crore dosages of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered and a majority of those were Covishield.

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AstraZeneca withdraws Covid-19 vaccine cites surplus of available updated vaccines - The Week

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Adolescents' trajectories of depression and anxiety symptoms prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and their ... - Nature.com

From spring break parties to Mardi Gras, many people remember the last major normal thing they did before the novel coronavirus pandemic dawned, forcing governments worldwide to issue stay-at-home advisories and shutdowns.

Even before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S., fears and uncertainties helped spur misinformations rapid spread. In March 2020, schools closed, employers sent staff to work from home, and grocery stores called for physical distancing to keep people safe. But little halted the flow of misleading claims that sent fact-checkers and public health officials into overdrive.

Some people falsely asserted covids symptoms were associated with 5G wireless technology. Faux cures and untested treatments populated social media and political discourse. Amid uncertainty about the viruss origins, some people proclaimed covid didnt exist at all. PolitiFact named downplay and denial about the virus its 2020 Lie of the Year.

Four years later, peoples lives are largely free of the extreme public health measures that restricted them early in the pandemic. But covid misinformation persists, although its now centered mostly on vaccines and vaccine-related conspiracy theories.

PolitiFact has published more than 2,000 fact checks related to covid vaccines alone.

From a misinformation researcher perspective, [there has been] shifting levels of trust, said Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of: This isnt real, fake cures, and then later on, we see more vaccine-focused mis- and disinformation and a more partisan type of disinformation and misinformation.

Here are some of the most persistent covid misinformation narratives we see today:

A loss of trust in the vaccines

Covid vaccines were quickly developed, with U.S. patients receiving the first shots in December 2020, 11 months after the first domestic case was detected.

Experts credit the speedy development with helping to save millions of lives and preventing hospitalizations. Researchers at the University of Southern California and Brown University calculated that vaccines saved 2.4 million lives in 141 countries starting from the vaccines rollout through August 2021 alone. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows there were 1,164 U.S. deaths provisionally attributed to covid the week of March 2, down from nearly 26,000 at the pandemics height in January 2021, as vaccines were just rolling out.

But on social media and in some public officials remarks, misinformation about covid vaccine efficacy and safety is common. U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has built his 2024 campaign on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories about the vaccines. PolitiFact made that its 2023 Lie of the Year.

PolitiFact has seen claims that spike proteins from vaccines are replacing sperm in vaccinated males. (Thats false.) Weve researched the assertion that vaccines can change your DNA. (Thats misleading and ignores evidence). Social media posts poked fun at Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for encouraging people to get vaccinated, asserting that the vaccine actually shuts off recipients hearts. (No, it doesnt.) and some people pointed to an American Red Cross blood donation questionnaire as evidence that shots are unsafe. (PolitiFact rated that False.)

Experts say this misinformation has real-world effects.

A September 2023 survey by KFF found that 57% of Americans say they are very or somewhat confident in covid vaccines. And those who distrust them are more likely to identify as politically conservative: Thirty-six percent of Republicans compared with 84% of Democrats say they are very or somewhat confident in the vaccine.

Immunization rates for routine vaccines for other conditions have also taken a hit. Measles had been eradicated for more than 20 years in the U.S. but there have been recent outbreaks in states including Florida, Maryland, and Ohio. Floridas surgeon general has expressed skepticism about vaccines and rejected guidance from the CDC about how to contain potentially deadly disease spread.

The vaccination rate among kindergartners has declined from 95% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in 2022-23, according to the CDC. Public health officials have set a 95% vaccination rate target to prevent and reduce the risk of disease outbreaks. The CDC also found exemptions had risen to 3%, the highest rate ever recorded in the U.S.

Unsubstantiated claims that vaccines cause deaths or other illness

PolitiFact has seen repeated and unsubstantiated claims that covid vaccines have caused mass numbers of deaths.

A recent widely shared post claimed 17 million people had died because of the vaccine, despite contrary evidence from multiple studies and institutions such as the World Health Organization and CDC that the vaccines are safe and help to prevent severe illness and death.

Another online post claimed the booster vaccine had eight strains of HIV and would kill 23% of the population. Vaccine manufacturers publish the ingredient lists; they do not include HIV. People living with HIV were among the people given priority access during early vaccine rollout to protect them from severe illness.

Covid vaccines also have been blamed for causing Alzheimers and cancer. Experts have found no evidence the vaccines cause either conditions.

You had this remarkable scientific or medical accomplishment contrasted with this remarkable rejection of that technology by a significant portion of the American public, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

More than three years after vaccines became available, about 70% of Americans have completed a primary series of covid vaccination, according to CDC figures. About 17% have gotten the most recent bivalent booster.

False claims often pull from and misuse data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The database, run by the CDC and the FDA, allows anybody to report reactions after any vaccine. The reports themselves are unverified, but the database is designed to help researchers find patterns for further investigation.

An October 2023 survey published in November by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found 63% of Americans think it is safer to get the COVID-19 vaccine than the COVID-19 disease that was down from 75% in April 2021.

Celebrity deaths falsely attributed to vaccines

Betty White, Bob Saget, Matthew Perry, and DMX are just a few of the many celebrities whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine. The anti-vaccine film Died Suddenly tried to give credence to false claims that the vaccine causes people to die shortly after receiving it.

Cline Gounder, editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News and an infectious disease specialist, said these claims proliferate because of two things: cognitive bias and more insidious motivated reasoning.

Its like saying I had an ice cream cone and then I died the next day; the ice cream must have killed me, she said. And those with preexisting beliefs about the vaccine seek to attach sudden deaths to the vaccine.

Gounder experienced this personally when her husband, the celebrated sports journalist Grant Wahl, died while covering the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Wahl died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm but anti-vaccine accounts falsely linked his death to a covid vaccine, forcing Gounder to publicly set the record straight.

It is very clear that this is about harming other people, said Gounder, who was a guest at United Facts of America in 2023. And in this case, trying to harm me and my family at a point where we were grieving my husbands loss. What was important in that moment was to really stand up for my husband, his legacy, and to do what I know he would have wanted me to do, which is to speak the truth and to do so very publicly.

Out-of-control claims about government control

False claims that the pandemic was planned by government leaders and those in power abound.

At any given moment, Microsoft Corp. co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, World Economic Forum head Klaus Schwab, or Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, are blamed for orchestrating pandemic-related threats.In November, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., falsely claimed Fauci brought the virus to his state a year before the pandemic. There is no evidence of that. Gates, according to the narratives, is using dangerous vaccines to push a depopulation agenda. Thats false. And Schwab has not said he has an agenda to establish a totalitarian global regime using the coronavirus to depopulate the Earth and reorganize society. Thats part of a conspiracy theory thats come to be called The Great Reset that has been debunked many times.

The United Nations World Health Organization is frequently painted as a global force for evil, too, with detractors saying it is using vaccination to control or harm people. But the WHO has not declared that a new pandemic is happening, as some have claimed. Its current pandemic preparedness treaty is in no way positioned to remove human rights protections or restrict freedoms, as one post said. And the organization has not announced plans to deploy troops to corral people and forcibly vaccinate them. The WHO is, however, working on a new treaty to help countries improve coordination in response to future pandemics.

This story is republished from KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues.

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Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel discusses AstraZeneca admitting that its COVID vaccine can cause side effects and shares why it's important to move every 30 minutes.

The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide citing low demand and a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The vaccine calledVaxzevria was one of a number of shots released onto the market by pharmaceutical companies aimed at preventing people from catching COVID-19.

The company said it would proceed to withdraw Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe. The vaccine was never approved in the U.S. by the FDA.

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AstraZeneca said that more than 3 billion doses of its vaccine were supplied globally and that "over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone." (Reuters/Sergio Perez / Reuters Photos)

"As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

AstraZeneca said that more than 3 billion doses were supplied globally and that "over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone."

"Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic," the statement said, according to the Guardian. "We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the COVID-19 pandemic."

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The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, citing low demand and a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic. (iStock)

According to the Telegraph, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time in court documents that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause rare side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts. The admission came via a U.K. class action lawsuit that sought $125 million for almost 50 victims of AstraZeneca vaccine side effects.

TheEuropean Medicines AgencylistedGuillain-Barr syndromeas a very rare side effect ofVaxzevria in 2021 and added a warning in the product information.

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The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on Tuesday, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

Many countries had already stopped supplying the vaccine before Tuesdays announcement. It has not been available for use in Australia since March 2023, though its use was already being phased out from June 2021 due to the widespread availability of newer vaccines, according to the Guardian.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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AstraZeneca to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine globally as demand dips, rare side effects revealed - Fox Business

The FLiRT variant, a group of new Covid-19 variants belonging to Omicron's JN.1 lineage, is rapidly replacing the previous variant, Eris, in the US, the UK, New Zealand, and South Korea, according to experts. Variants KP.2 and KP 1.1, considered more infectious than previous Omicron variants, are causing concern. However, experts believe the symptoms remain the same. KP.2 has taken over the JN.1 variant in the US.

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What is New Covid-19 Variant FLiRT?

FLiRT is based on the technical names for the mutations of the virus, one of which includes the letters F and L, and another of which includes the letters R and T. Scientists say that within this group of variants, the most concern is over KP.2.

How dangerous is Covid FLiRT Variant?

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Officials say most people are vulnerable as only 22 per cent of American adults have gotten the latest COVID vaccine. And since many people may not have had the virus in a while, they are ripe for reinfection. However, data also shows that even those who have gotten the booster may not be well-protected against a potential surge.

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According to scientists, the symptoms of FLiRT are not significantly different from the previously known COVID-19 variants, which are:

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Should India be worried?

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Even though the virus continues to change its form and see an uptick every changing season, a few things you can do to prevent yourself include:

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What is new Covid variant FLiRT, is it dangerous, and what are the symptoms? - The Economic Times