U.S. health officials brace for another fall Covid surge, but with

Fall is on the horizon and public health officials are again bracing for another wave of Covid cases.

Over the past two years, fall and winter have brought devastating Covid surges that took hundreds of thousands of lives and pushed hospitals to the breaking point. But U.S. health officials say the nation is in a much different place today due to the arsenal of tools doctors now have to fight the virus.

“We are in a much, much better place. We are in a better place because people have gotten vaccinated and boosted. We’ve got treatments that are widely available,” Dr. Ashish Jha, White House Covid response coordinator, said in an August interview with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a report published in early August, said high levels of immunity in the U.S. population from vaccination and infection have substantially reduced the threat of hospitalization and death from Covid.

The CDC ended its quarantine recommendations for people exposed to the virus last month. Public health officials are calling on people to stay up to date on their vaccines, but are largely leaving it up to individuals to decide what other precautions they should take based on their health history, risk tolerance, and how much Covid is spreading in their communities.

The CDC is taking a more targeted approach that focuses on making sure those at the highest risk of severe illness have access to vaccines, antiviral treatments and other therapeutics to protect their health.

Many people haven’t had a vaccine dose in months, which means their immune protection against the virus is waning off with some studies showing three shots of the original vaccines were just 19% effective at preventing Covid infection after 5 months.

At the same time, more transmissible omicron subvariants are spreading. It’s creating a perfect storm ahead of the cold weather months and holidays that force people indoors in close proximity to each other and a highly contagious airborne pathogen.

Even with all the tools the U.S. has available, Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths have plateaued at stubbornly high levels over the summer.

The U.S. is gearing up for a booster campaign after Labor Day with reformulated vaccines that target both the original strain of the virus that emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019 and omicron BA.5, the dominant variant in circulation. Public health officials believe the reformulated boosters will provide more durable protection against infection and help avert a major surge that taxes hospitals.

“It’s going to be really, really important for people to get this updated, new, very specific Covid vaccine because I think it’s going to help a lot in preventing infections, and I think it is going to help a lot in keeping people out of the…