Navigating COVID-19: Unraveling Variants, Boosters, and the Role of the CDC with Dr. William Choctaw

Ever wondered how the COVID-19 virus hijacks our cells, or why new variants like Eris keep emerging? Join us as we pick the brain of Dr. William Choctaw, a leading voice in the fight against the pandemic, for a fresh take on these questions and more. We unravel the science behind the virus and its mutations and discuss the robust efforts of stalwarts like Dr. Anthony Fauci in this challenging battle. Essential insights on the latest variants, the vital role of the CDC, and the significance of booster shots are all on the agenda. 

Brace yourself as we take a deep dive into the CDC's relentless work in detecting and mitigating the transmission of ERIS. Learn about their international travel guidelines and collaborations with local governments to keep the virus at bay. As we find ourselves in the midst of fall and winter, the need for vigilance has never been higher. From the importance of booster shots to the use of home testing kits, Dr. Choctaw sheds light on how we can keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. With the wisdom of experts like Dr. Fauci and current knowledge about the Omicron variant, this episode equips you with the knowledge you need to navigate these uncertain times.

Choctaw Medical Group, Inc.
Healthcare Quality Leadership Education Group

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Chapters

• 0:00 COVID-19 Boosters and the Eris Variant
• 15:17 CDC's Role and COVID-19 Variant Analysis
• 23:08 COVID-19 Boosters and Winter Protection

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William Choctaw, mdjd. Our mission is to empower you with the knowledge and the tools you need to thrive in all aspects of your life. Join us now as we discuss everything from nutrition and exercise to money management and personal growth. Dr Choctaw will provide insightful advice on how to improve your physical and financial health, as well as your emotional and mental well-being. Whether you're looking to boost your energy levels, unlike financial freedom or cultivate a more positive mindset, we've got you covered. Get ready to become the best version of yourself, so let's get started. Here's Dr William Chokta, mdjd.

Speaker 2: 0:51

I'm Dr William Choctaw and I will be your host today. These podcasts are part of our Leadership Master Class series and each month, what we hope to do is we strive to provide you, with our listeners, with mental, physical and spiritual strength by giving action, advice, tips, guidance and information to help you achieve your own personal, professional and spiritual goals. We consider the health and the mind, body and spirit paramount as a single unit that provides a cumulative strength greater than the individual parts to strengthen the whole person. So sit back and go with us on another exciting journey. The title of our discussion today about podcasts today is Most people can wait to get the COVID booster. What to know about Eris, the latest coronavirus strain? Let me say that again. Most people who are vaccinated can wait to get their COVID booster shot this year. What you should know about the latest virus and the latest variant, eris E-R-I-S, and how it relates to the coronavirus today.

Speaker 2: 2:23

I believe knowledge is power. I believe life is about service to others. I believe leaders can change the world. As an outline we always like to have for you, we're going to talk about the coronavirus COVID-19. When I say COVID-19 and coronavirus, I'm using those terms interchangeably. I don't want that to be confusing, or I may just call it the virus, each one of those titles. I'm talking about the coronavirus or COVID-19, or the virus that caused the pandemic. But as part of our, I remember going to talk about Dr Fauci and just give him his due for his outstanding work in this field for the last four years. We're going to give an overview of our COVID-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant specifically leading to the most recent variant that we're dealing with. We're going to define what Eris, e-r-i-s or E-G.5, the latest variant is and how it's similar and different from the original Omicron a couple of years ago. And we're going to talk about prevention and how we still need to do some basic things to make sure that we are healthy and able to continue on with our activity and that those that we come in contact with our family, friends and coworkers also remain healthy.

Speaker 2: 3:52

This particular masterclass, as we deal with the COVID pandemic and this is the first time that we've dealt with the pandemic as a masterclass we have given many discussions and many lectures over the last four years, both in person and on Zoom, but we're primarily talking about the pandemic and bringing you up to date with a status report, if you will, and the good news to start off with is that most people in this country are vaccinated. Most people in this country are vaccinated. Yes, we still do have some anti-vaxxers who are not vaccinated, but fortunately they're in a smaller minority than they used to be, and that is good news both for us and for them. Let me just make a quick note about Dr Anthony Fauci. I think he is one of the most outstanding medical leaders in the world and I think he has exemplary proved himself in that respect about his work with the pandemic, with COVID-19, dating back from 2020 all the way to present day. I consider him the father of epidemiology and I think he's an extraordinary leader. And because much of these podcasts are about leadership, I think Dr Anthony Fauci exemplifies that extraordinary leadership that we all should strive to be. He is a tireless worker, he is committed to helping others and I think he's done an extraordinary service not only to this country but to the entire world. So kudos to you, dr Fauci.

Speaker 2: 5:35

When we think about a virus and I don't want to get into too much detail basically we humans are made up of cells C-E-L-L. Think of a cell as a round organism that carries out certain functions on the inside, and we actually are composed of billions of cells throughout our body that operate in an extraordinary accuracy and an extraordinary manner, and it keeps all of the functions moving as they should so that we can do the things we need to do. What happens, though, is that if that cell is attacked by, say, a virus, and a cell is one particular size, a virus is much smaller than the cell itself, and one of the ways that the COVID-19 virus again the coronavirus attacks our cells is through a spike that's on the cell. A spike is just something that sticks out from the cell wall, and the virus is able to attach that spike, insert its genetic material into the cell and then change the character of that cell itself. So a lot of the treatment, ie the vaccines that have been developed to kill the virus or at least to neutralize the virus, deal with issues to prevent the virus from being able to either attach to the cell the normal cell, or to insert its genetic material into that normal cell. If the virus cannot do that, it will ultimately die. And again, keep in mind and I just want you to remember something real basic the whole purpose of the virus is to feed. The virus wants to eat, it wants to live, it wants to survive. It does that by feeding on human cells, and so what we want to do is not be the source of food for the virus, because during that process of feeding on humans, it also ends up killing us, and so, for us to survive, the virus must be destroyed.

Speaker 2: 7:45

To show the damage that has occurred with the coronavirus pandemic, over the last four years, mortality or deaths from the virus has significantly moved up as number two on the list of the most common causes of deaths for humans. Presently in this country, the first cause is heart disease. Then it used to be cancer going all the way down to kidney disease. Now it's heart disease, covid-19 coronavirus cancer, going all the way down to kidney disease. It just gives you an idea and puts in perspective the number of people who are no longer with us as a result of this virus, and it just makes us even more determined and more committed to take care of ourselves and also take care of others.

Speaker 2: 8:37

One of the things that's unique about a virus, or that's challenging about a virus, is that viruses change. They can change their structure, they can change the way they operate, and that really helps them to survive. To put it another way, that makes it difficult for us to create vaccines or other types of medications to either destroy the virus or neutralize the virus, and one of the ways that it can do that is that it has the ability to change to what we call mutate, to actually change its form and function. And so I will use a number of other terms like variant. Variant is the same thing that I will say when I'm talking about a change. When a virus changes, it then becomes a variant of its original cell. Another term that means the same thing is change is mutation. When a virus mutates, that means the virus changes Again, make it easier for it to survive and make it more difficult for it to be destroyed by medication or other types of methods. So keep that in mind.

Speaker 2: 9:51

So remember that the coronavirus, or the pandemic, began roughly early 2020. Okay, we're now in 2023. So we're in the fourth year. Back when the virus first started, it was a certain way structurally and physiologically, but that virus of 2020 has significantly changed by the time we get to now in 2023. And it's changed in function and it's changed in structure.

Speaker 2: 10:25

One of those changes, so one of those variants. So one of those mutations, if you will, is a mutation called Omicron. Now, these mutations are all part of the Greek alphabet. Omicron is one of the big changes, the big variations, the big mutations of the COVID-19 virus of 2020, the pandemic virus and Omicron virus had a number of different changes and a number of different mutations that made it particularly stand out throughout the world. Remember, pandemic is an infection of the entire world and the Omicron was particularly frustrating and it indeed spurned a lot of different changes and mutations and variants, if you will. So we're still dealing with some of the variants of Omicron.

Speaker 2: 11:20

So one of the various variants that we're dealing with the most recent one that we're dealing with in 2023, is a variant called Eris, e-r-i-s. Again, eris is a name for and I'm not sure where all these names come from, but it's the name of a Greek goddess, and this was the goddess of discord, like it's an appropriate name, and so that's the name of the most recent variant, or strain, if you will, or mutation, if you will, of the COVID-19 virus. So we're going to talk about the most recent mutation change, a variant of the COVID-19 virus, and this recent mutation is called Eris, and one of the ways we're going to do this to make it simpler and easier to understand, is I'm going to do it in terms of first asking a question and then answering the question to try to add even more clarity. I realize that everybody may not be into the science and the biochemistry et cetera, but it is important and knowledge is power, and the more you understand about this, the more you could appreciate the importance of having to do the things you need to do. So let's look at the first question how prevalent is Eris? Another word for it, name for Eris is EG.5, but we'll call it Eris. That's easy to remember.

Speaker 2: 12:46

How prevalent is Eris, the latest coronavirus sub variant? How common is it? How big is it? How much impact does it have? Actually, about 20% of the new cases in August of this year 2023, are felt to be caused by Eris, and this is the last two weeks of August, the last two to three weeks of August. And why that's important is that we've noticed that during the month of August of 2023, the number of cases of coronavirus are beginning to increase, are beginning to increase, and of those cases that are beginning to increase, eris, the most recent variant, is dominant, but it's about 20% of cases.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Another question how is eras different from other recent coronavirus strains? Actually, eras is quite similar to the other coronavirus strains and there have been a lot of them over the last four years, and that's a good thing. And the reason why that's a good thing is it makes the ability of the scientists to develop a vaccine that will kill or paralyze eras more likely, because it is not too different. It does not appear to be at present too different than the other variants of mutations that we've had of the coronavirus. We're more likely than not that we're more optimistic about being able to come up with a vaccine that can protect us against the horrible parts of this particular mutation of the coronavirus, and we'll talk about this a little later. Now there are other variants that have come along other than Omicron, but most of them have not been as large nor have they been as impactful as Omicron. And some of these other variants have been alpha, they've been delta, and again, the greek alphabets are used to designate the various variants and most of them have no longer around now, again, over the last four years, and the original form of the coronavirus is no longer around now. So we're living with the mutations, if you will, the variants of the original virus in 2020 or December of 2019. Okay, so that's why this whole issue is so important.

Speaker 2: 15:17

The Center for Disease Control, the CDC, which is out of Atlanta, georgia, is responsible for policy and guidelines and rules and regulations about how to protect ourselves, both individually and collectively, and the CDC does a number of things. Many times, in my judgment, it does not get credit for all the work that it does, but it has thousands of individuals who work endlessly and tirelessly to keep us safe and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. And therefore, specific things that the CDC does. One, it does the very detailed detection or detection processes of variants. And again, as we said, this is what viruses do they mutate, they change, they grow, if you will, to a different form to try to avoid destruction. And one of the things that the CDC does is it's on top, and has been for a long time on top, of the growth of these new barriers to make sure that we can destroy them as soon as possible. The other thing the CDC does is it provides guidelines to slow the spread of international travel. I'm sure you're aware that one of the main sources of contamination, if you will and I'm someone whose fly has flown quite frequently is flying from one country to another, flying from one city to another Both just the process of being on an airplane with a lot of people in small space, which itself is problematic, and also going from one environment to another environment. Many times, if one becomes contaminated and then you go back to another place, then you theoretically can become a carrier, and so it's one of the things we need to be aware of, and the CDC is very good at helping us with that. It's also very good at partnering with various state and local government agencies to slow the spread of viruses and, finally, it's very good in terms of support and providing smart, intelligent, scientifically based information about ways that we can protect ourselves individually. I think we're very fortunate and very blessed to have an organization like the CDC working with us.

Speaker 2: 17:36

Another question is ARIS, again the most recent variant for the coronavirus, contributing to an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations? And the answer to that question is yes. What are the ways we know that the coronavirus is still active and whatever form it may be? Is that we start seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations, people who get sick, and they get so sick that they cannot stay at home. They have to go to the hospital and obviously these are the individuals who are at the greatest risk for serious damage and or death. But one of the things that's important is that, even though the most recent mutation, aris, has caused an increase, it's only been a 14% increase in the hospitalization and again, everything is relative. But a year or two or three years ago we were looking at huge increases in hospitalization on a monthly basis. So even though it's beginning to tick up a bit, it's not increasing as much as we normally would see or have seen in the past with this particular virus. So one of my sense specific what I'm saying is the coronavirus is still with us, the variant is still operational. The variant is causing an increase in hospitalization, but it does not appear to be as serious or as dramatic an increase in hospitalization, as large an increase in hospitalization as three or four years ago, and that's a good thing.

Speaker 2: 19:14

We know that frequently, trend-wise, that there tends to be an uptick in coronavirus infections in the summertime. Some have theorized that that's because many individuals most of us travel more in the summertime to kids out of school or we take vacation more in the summertime to foreign countries, different states, et cetera, and that sort of causes there to be an increase. Nevertheless, we do know that this happens and it tends to happen every summer. The good news is so far and we're in summer right now is that the increase has not been as large as it has been due in other summers so far.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Does heiress, this most recent variant, cause symptoms that are different from other coronavirus subvariants? The good news is no, it does not, that the symptoms are very similar to what the coronavirus has created before. Why that's good is that it helps us to identify and make a diagnosis much faster. I'm sure you remember the symptoms, whether you've had it or seen individuals who've had it, but the very severe symptoms or the most common symptoms tend to be fever, fatigue and a dry cough. In general, most individuals who become infected with COVID-19, regardless of the variant or the mutation at the time tend to have mild symptoms in general. Again, that's probably because the majority of individuals in our country have received the vaccination and that makes it easier for them not to get as ill or to have a little more protection on board if they're exposed to the virus. About 80 percent tend to have mild symptoms in general, 13 percent tend to have severe symptoms and 6 percent tend to have critical symptoms. Now, another reason for those variations in symptoms tends to be the status, the medical status of the individual. If you have preexisting medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, etc. Etc. Then that increases your risk of having more critical symptoms. Likewise, if you're in the extremes of age if you're a baby or a young child, ask, and someone who's over 60 years of age you too are more susceptible to having the more serious symptoms. As we think about COVID-19 and the more common symptoms of fever, fatigue and dry cough, let's not forget that it also causes some gastrointestinal symptoms. There's not a lot of discussion about that, but a lot of patients have problems with stomach pains, diarrhea, cramps, etc. Etc. Let's keep that in mind as we look at the symptomatology.

Speaker 2: 22:11

As we prepare for our scheduled vaccines and vaccinations for this year, most of us who've been vaccinated are now just getting booster shots, because we've already been vaccinated. Now we're getting the booster shot, and the purpose of the booster shot is to keep our immunization level high. The higher our immunization level is, the more protected we are from the things that the virus is trying to do to us, particularly the most recent variant of the virus, aris E-R-I-S. What we're learning is that there are three basic viruses that usually we have to deal with now in the wintertime. Viruses usually become more infectious in the wintertime. Winter is January, february, march and sometimes in the fall, october, november, december. Right now we're in August.

Speaker 2: 23:08

One of the points that we want to make with this particular presentation is that if you already have your, you've already been vaccinated and you've already had your current booster. Now you're thinking about what about my booster for to get me prepared for 2024? One of the points we want to make is that a number of very scholarly professors who are experts on COVID-19 are saying or have said that you don't have to get the booster this week or next week. Okay, that you can wait and get the booster in mid to late September or in October Because, remember, the booster shots are most protective of us two to three months after we get the shot. So what we want is we want maximum protection at the beginning or doing particularly those one a month. That's why that most vaccinations are given in the fall, because we're preparing for winter, when the virus is going to be most active and we're going to be most susceptible. So one of the points we want to make is and most people don't like shots that you don't have to get it this week or next week, but you do want to get your booster shot September, october to get the maximum protection for the winter months December, january, february, march.

Speaker 2: 24:32

There is no question that of the last four years, that we've all been traumatized both mentally, physically and spiritually by this pandemic and I take no pleasure in saying this but that the virus is still with us. It is not gone. It is less, it is more controlled, but it is not gone completely. And again we're entering into those the time of the year where it is most rampant and it is most destructive. So just keep that in mind, and my purpose for saying that is do those basic things that we all know that we should do Wash our hands, be careful in closed spaces with a lot of people and wear your mask. I'm one of those folks. I carry my mask with me and I tell my patients and others wear your mask probably, put your shoulders back in your head up and wear it probably, because not only are you protecting yourself, you're protecting those around you, whether they're able to appreciate that or not. One of the things that's occurred, starting in the last two or three years with the President administration in Washington, is that we now have testing kits that are home kits, and so you can test yourself if you have a question about it and send in the results, and you can get those results validated by retest or take an additional test at the hospital or at your physician's office.

Speaker 2: 25:57

It's important to keep in mind that this virus that we have, the COVID-19 virus, will mutate every single year. All viruses mutate every single year. Think about the flu virus, and that's probably the one that we're most familiar with. Every single year, we take a flu shot and the reason we take that flu shot. We usually take it in the fall September, october, november, december, whatever is that. We want to get our immune level up. Remember it takes two to three months to get maximum protection, so that we have maximum protection going until the winter months. That's why we do it that way. It would be no different with the COVID-19 virus in terms of getting the booster shot.

Speaker 2: 26:40

Okay, and it's important to understand. Why is it that we have to do it that way? The reality is that the scientists and the physicians and the clinicians and the experts who create these booster vaccines. They don't know what the virus is going to be for 2024. So they're creating the booster in late 2023, but it's a guess. It is an educated guess, but it is not 100% accurate because they actually don't know what the variant is going to be in 2024, of what it's going to act like Because, remember, the variant's changed, thus the word variant, it varies, it changes frequently to survive. So to some extent we're chasing the virus.

Speaker 2: 27:31

Now. That's why we're encouraged by the fact that the variant appears to be very close, symptomatically, with other variants, because we have vaccines and booster shots that can take care of that. And if it's similar, then we should be in good shape. But anything is possible is my point. Anything is possible. So what you want to do is be maximally protected. You want to protect those that you care about love, one and love and you want to protect everybody. I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper. That's important to me and that's a fundamental right that we all should have.

Speaker 2: 28:10

Just again, before we finish, just review the way this virus is spread is with droplets, sneezing, coughing, speaking, laughing, singing, talking. So if you're in an airplane and someone is sitting in the back of the plane and see 40 and they're sneezing and coughing and those droplets are going straight up toward the front of the plane or somewhere around you and that's why you want to wear your mask and that's why you want to be constantly vigilant, particularly when you're in large crowds. The good news about the coronavirus or the coronavirus, is that we're getting fewer cases again because people are more vaccinated and we still want to get the ones who aren't vaccinated to become vaccinated.

Speaker 2: 28:54

The different variants that occur many times can occur in different countries. Remember this the pandemic is worldwide. So even though we're dealing with the particular variant in the United States, others in say, in India or in South America or Africa or Europe, the United Kingdom. They may have different variants but because travel, among other things, allows us to go from country to country, those variants quickly spread around throughout the world. In summary, we have been very fortunate to have had the leadership in healthcare, particularly in epidemiological, pandemic type related healthcare. Like Dr Anthony Fauci, he is an icon, in my judgment, in the field of medicine and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude to thank him for all the work that he has done. We're dealing now with yet another variant. This is the variant of the Omicron, which was the variant of the original COVID-19 virus from late 2019. The good news is that this particular variant appears to be less powerful so far than the original Omicron variant.

Speaker 2: 30:10

The name of this variant is ERIS. The technical name is EG.5. So ERIS appears to be less powerful so far than the other variants that we've dealt with in the past, and that's good news. We're optimistic that, as we get our booster shots in late September, in October, that we should be able to do well with this new variant. If you have certain special circumstances, you may want to take your booster shot earlier. What do I mean by special circumstances? If our elderly and my definition of elderly is over 60, if you have pre-existing medical conditions and also have travel plans for the fall for August, september, october you then may want to move up your booster schedule. My discussion today was about those individuals who are just the routine and don't fall into those special circumstances, and what you always want to do is just check with your healthcare provider, just ask her, tell them what your circumstances are and ask her or him what you should do. It's always important to stay up to date with the latest and what we try to do with these podcasts is provide some of that with you, but always be informed. Knowledge is power and that's why we do these podcasts, but if you have certain circumstances, you can. Again, circumstances meaning pre-existing conditions, elderly, very young and anything else that may make you more susceptible to COVID-19, then certainly follow the advice of your healthcare professional and do accordingly. In general, we recommend, if you do not fall into those special categories, that most of you will probably be able to have those shots, probably again late September and early October. I realize that we're only talking about maybe two or three weeks difference, but again, I think the more you know how, the more important it is, the more helpful it is for you to take care of yourself.

Speaker 2: 32:25

Okay, my basic principles God is in charge. Principle number one I am a position of faith and I am grateful and have been blessed to have God in my life. That is why I have been able to stay healthy and do the things that I've been able to do. Second principle no bad days. I don't have any bad days. I decided about 30 years ago that I'd had enough bad days and I figured out that my day was good or bad when I said it was. So then I limited all my bad days and I now have good days and I have great days. Principle number three don't sweat the small stuff, and most stuff is small. I have learned that when I have experienced something that I perceive to be negative or a problem, that most of the time it's not nearly as important as I think it is and with a little time I figure out and I'm able to let it go. Principle number four forgiveness is therapy. That whenever, again, I perceive that someone has done or said something negative to me, I immediately have learned, and or am learning, to forgive them, and that not only is therapeutic for me, but I have many times prevented the circumstances from developing unnecessary, regardless of what the issue is.

Speaker 2: 33:45

And finally, everything is a relationships. Relationships are based on three things mutual respect, mutual trust, good communication. If you have those three things, you have a good relationship. If you do not, you have work to do. If you like these podcasts, I would encourage you to feel comfortable and enthusiastic about subscribing. You can go to wwwbuzzproutcom. Forward slash two, one zero one, zero, zero, three. That's wwwbuzz b-u-z-z-p-r-o-u-t dot com. Forward. Slash two, one zero. One, zero, zero, three. And finally, be the change that you want to see in the world. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Speaker 1: 34:39

Thanks for listening to the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr William Choctaw, MD. We hope you enjoy this episode. In fact, if you found this episode helpful, you can support and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform with the key words Dr William Choctaw, and you'll find it very quickly. Also, subscribing helps ensure that you don't miss any future episodes. And then takes the next step of action and share it with your family, friends and or your coworkers. They'll be glad you did so. Until the next time, live your best possible life the best possible way. You've been listening to the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr William Choctaw, MD.