Dr. Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, chief medical officer and deputy commissioner of the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, spoke with the Amsterdam News for a Q&A about the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparation for the holidays and long COVID. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AmNews: Where are we with respect to COVID-19 right now?
Although there have been a lot of confusing conversations, I would say…we are still in a pandemic and the COVID pandemic continues to be a massive priority for all of us in public health. Where we are currently in New York City specifically is that we have seen a slow rise in cases of COVID over the past several weeks, and we have really tried to get the message out to providers and our health care partners as well. It’s happening at a time when we actually have more tools than we have ever had to prevent COVID, both in terms of…severe cases, as well as severe outcomes. [We] have more options than ever in terms of treatment…at this point, some folks may not be aware that unfortunately, we are still seeing deaths from COVID in New York City.
We have more tools than ever to prevent [deaths and hospitalizations] from happening, so the updated COVID boosters and the bivalent boosters are essential for the prevention of severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death. We also have multiple different treatments that are available for people who do test positive for COVID.
I’m not sure how clear it is to everyone that the bivalent booster—the updated booster—the new booster…is a new version of the vaccine. I think folks need to understand that what’s so new and exciting about the booster is that it actually responds to what we’re seeing right now. It is your best bet to protect yourself and your family and your community from severe disease from COVID-19.
We’re also seeing that there is circulation of other viruses at the same time that we remain in the pandemic.
AmNews: There is a persistent myth that the COVID-19 primary series of vaccines are irrelevant. Can you speak about this?
It is a myth—you’re correct. The primary series is still extremely impactful and in some ways, I would say that it’s the on-ramp to full protection from COVID-19. It’s kind of the first part of priming your body to be prepared to fight COVID effectively and it’s still very important for folks who have never had a COVID vaccine at all. That primary series is going to be what gets your body ready to fight COVID. It is not at all useless at this point. In fact, it’s how you prepare your body to get to be ready for the booster vaccine. So that’s definitely a myth. The primary series is still very impactful.
AmNews: Another persistent myth is that if you have been vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask. What are your thoughts on this?
Masks are one of the most helpful ways to protect yourself and your family. We recommend that New Yorkers wear masks in all indoor settings and in public settings where there are a lot of people around—that is still our recommendation. It’s a powerful way to protect yourself and your family.
AmNews: What should people do to keep themselves safe for the holidays?
Most of our advice hasn’t changed. It’s really all the same things that we’ve been saying over the past couple of years. There are a few things we strongly recommend.
First and foremost, again, wearing a high-quality mask in all public indoor settings and outside when you’re around big crowds. This is still one of the most basic, most powerful measures to protect yourself and your family, so we still recommend that.
The second thing we still recommend is to get vaccinated for sure for COVID-19. With the bivalent booster, it’s not too late to do that and the same for flu—get your flu vaccine as well. We strongly do recommend also that people go ahead and get both vaccines at the same time.
The third thing we recommend is that you do tests before travel and gatherings, especially if you were exposed to someone with COVID.
The fourth thing we still want to make sure everyone knows is to stay home if you’re sick. No matter what symptoms you might have, if you feel something’s coming…that is a time, again, where you could be potentially very infectious to others and we want you to stay home, get tested, make sure that you are okay before you put yourself in a situation where you might be able to spread a contagious illness to other people. That’s really important. And then hand-washing. I know it sounds arcane but hand-washing still helps to prevent all kinds of viruses, not just COVID but also flu, RSV and other viruses.
AmNews: Where are we with respect to long COVID?
We continue at the health department to pay very close attention to the evolution of long COVID. It’s definitely one of our concerns—what we know from our recent Community Health Survey is that almost 30% of New Yorkers who’ve had COVID report some form of long COVID. We also know that women are a bit more likely to experience it than men and we’ve been doing a few different efforts to try to make sure that there’s awareness about long COVID across New York City.
For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/index.page or call 311.
COVID-19 testing and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid/.