Coronavirus cases are slowly on the rise in Illinois and across the United States, and with that residents are asking plenty of questions about the illness.
Scientists and officials have anticipated increases in cases because of new variants, which have shown some resistance to certain treatments, and because of colder weather pushing more people to spend time indoors.
Whatever the case, there are some commonly-asked questions about COVID, and we're here to provide some answers from experts and scientists.
What Are the Most Common Symptoms of COVID?
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According to a recent study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom, the COVID symptoms experienced by individuals can vary depending on whether a person is fully-vaccinated against the virus, or whether they haven’t received any doses of the vaccine.
The most common symptoms, in order of occurrence, for fully vaccinated individuals included a sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, a persistent cough and a headache, according to the researchers.
Headaches were the most common symptom among those who hadn’t been vaccinated, followed by sore throat, runny nose, fever and a persistent cough.
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According to the CDC, a fever or chills are both common symptoms, as are shortness of breath, muscle or body aches, fatigue, loss of taste or smell, nausea, and diarrhea.
What Variants Are Circulating in the U.S.?
While just about every case of COVID-19 in the U.S. is currently being caused by an omicron subvariant, the number of subvariants has exploded in recent weeks.
The BA.5 variant, which caused the majority of COVID cases in the U.S. throughout the summer, is now responsible for 49.6% as its stranglehold on case totals has gone down.
Two descendants of BA.5, known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are responsible for 14% and 13.1% of cases, respectively.
Both of those variants, as well as the BA.4.6 variant, are believed to be able to evade certain monoclonal antibody treatments, but new bivalent COVID vaccines are still effective at preventing serious illness or hospitalizations, according to preliminary research.
BF.7, another descendant of BA.5, is responsible for an estimated 7.5% of cases.
What Treatments Are Available for COVID?
While many monoclonal antibody treatments, including Evusheld and bebtelovimab are showing decreased efficacy against newer variants of COVID, other medications are still being prescribed by physicians.
The Pfizer antiviral Paxlovid remains effective against the new omicron strains, according to the CDC, and Gilead’s intravenous drug remdesivir is still being prescribed, as is Merck’s molnupiravir.
Unfortunately for individuals who are immunocompromised, those treatments all come with drawbacks. According to NBC News, Paxlovid can interact dangerously with medications that organ transplant recipients use, and molnupiravir may be less-effective in immunocompromised patients.
Remdesivir requires intravenous infusions to work, and the treatments are needed for three consecutive days, according to physicians.
Is There a Mask Mandate in Illinois?
With COVID cases still slowly rising in Illinois, there have been growing questions on whether a mask mandate will be reimposed, but at this time Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health have said that no such decree is forthcoming.
Even still, there are some counties where IDPH and the CDC are at least recommending that masks be worn due to growing case numbers.
As of Oct. 31, that list of counties includes Stephenson, Ogle, Pike, Ford and Vermillion counties, according to the CDC.
Virtually the entire Chicago area remains at a “low level” of COVID transmission, according to the CDC.
What Vaccines Are Available, and Are There Side Effects?
Currently, there are four COVID vaccines that are approved for emergency use by the FDA, with the main two being the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines.
Both of those vaccines also have “bivalent” booster shots that have been authorized, with the treatment specifically targeting omicron-based variants of the illness.
The most-common side effects for the vaccines include injection site pain, headache, fever, nausea and muscle aches. Most side effects are mild, and occur within 1-to-2 days of the injection.
The Janssen COVID vaccine is also available for individuals age 18 and older, but only in cases where other authorized vaccines aren’t accessible or clinically appropriate, according to the FDA.
A single-dose of the vaccine is administered to start the sequence, along with a booster dose two months later.
The most common side effects are pain at the injection site, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and nausea, and most occur within 1-to-2 days following the injection.
A fourth vaccine, produced by Novavax, is also authorized for individuals age 12 and older, requiring two shots and then a booster dose six months later.
The Novavax booster is authorized for patients, but only in cases where other bivalent booster vaccines are not available or clinically appropriate.
Side effects are similar to other vaccines, including injection site pain, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and fever.
