As people get back to their pre-COVID-19 routines of working at their physical office, shopping in stores or eating in restaurants, they might wonder if they’ve come into contact with the coronavirus. With the new delta variant present, which is spreading faster than is predecessors, the chance for exposure is greater, The Huffington Post reports.
“It really is so transmissible that I think there’s a high chance, depending on the community transmission rate in your area — if you have substantial or high transmission rate in your area based on the CDC definitions — that you may have been exposed,” Monica Gandhi an infectious diseases specialist with the University of California, San Francisco told The Huffington Post.
However, as Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, notes, there’s a difference between exposure and infection. If a person’s exposed to or been around the coronavirus, it does not necessarily mean they’ll be infected or develop a symptomatic illness. Chances are someone who’s been in a location where there’s been a significant spread without a mask or social distancing, will be exposed given how transmissible the Delta variant is, according to Gandhi.
So, while exposure is almost inevitable, infection will depend on a few factors such as proximity to the infected person who shed the virus, how much of the virus was transmitted and ventilation quality.
The third factor is an important one for commercial real estate owners to take note of. As workers return their offices, most will want some level of peace of mind that it’s safe to do so. A high-quality ventilation system is a strong first step to easing tenants’ concerns.
Detecting COVID-19 exposure
It might be tough for a person tell if they’ve been exposed to the coronavirus, especially if they’re vaccinated, The Huffington Post reports. There’s a chance the person produced an immune response that managed to fend off the virus before it could do any harm. Meanwhile, others might feel their immune system being activated—their memory B cells will create antibodies and T cells will prepare to fight the virus, Gandhi explained. People may be able to feel their immune system at work, which might feel the same as the side effects experienced following their COVID-19 vaccination.
“In the context of now, where we’re all hyperalert to symptoms, it is possible that people would feel down or tired,” Gandhi said.
Does COVID exposure provide protection?
According to Gandhi, there’s some evidence that being exposed to COVID-19 infection after getting the vaccine could strengthen the body’s immune response. More data is required to determine just how much exposure impacts the body’s immune memory, however. Scientists in the United Kingdom are currently conducting “challenge trials” The Huffington Post reports. The scientists are exposing young, healthy adults to the virus to see what doses cause infection and how people’s different immune systems respond to exposure.
Even if exposure can provide some sort of protection, it doesn’t mean anyone should want to become infected, given there’s no way to tell how their body will react if that happened. This is especially true for someone who hasn’t been vaccinated yet.
“The nice thing about being vaccinated is that you’re much less likely to get disease, but (exposure) will stimulate your immune response,” Gandhi told The Huffington Post.
“If you’re around virus in a good enough way, there’s a good chance you’re going to be infected,” Nuzzo added.
Infectious diseases specialists believe that most people will come into contact with is at some point. Delta, being as transmissible as it is, has changed the game — COVID is becoming endemic.
“I don’t think we’re going to eliminate it,” Gandhi said. “That, to me, means that we’re all likely to get exposed at some point.”
Joe Dyton can be reached at joed@fifthgenmedia.com.
