Health

What are the different strands of COVID right now? Dr. Mallika Marshall answers your questions

By Mallika Marshall, MD

October 16, 2023 / 5:35 PM EDT / CBS Boston

BOSTON - Dr. Mallika Marshall is answering your latest questions on COVID. If you have a question, email her or message her on Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter).

Debbie asks "I know two different people who had COVID. One with just a cold. The other required hospitalization. Could the newest strain do this, or could there be two different strains out there?"

Several subvariants of the omicron strain are currently circulating.

Though omicron subvariants are more easily spread, they tend to cause milder disease than prior variants like the original coronavirus or Delta.

Whether someone gets really sick from COVID depends on a number of factors including their vaccination status, their underlying health, and whether they take anti-viral medication after testing positive for COVID.

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COVID-19

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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