Amid slow progress being made with vaccine distribution, the coronavirus pandemic has shown no signs of slowing down.
Georgia on Thursday reported over 100 confirmed coronavirus deaths for the third day in a row and the White House said the state rose to No. 4 in the country for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Now, there have been reports of a new strain of the coronavirus and Georgia is the fifth state where someone was reported to have been infected with the COVID-19 variant. Health officials are continuing to encourage the public to avoid crowds, wear masks, remain at least six feet away from others and to ventilate indoor spaces.
While the COVID-19 variant — or, variants, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported multiple are circulating worldwide — isn’t necessarily more deadly or cause more severe illness, it’s more transmissible.
One of the most crowded areas we walk into regularly is the grocery store and knowing that the variants have emerged, you may want to consider avoiding them.
“Shopping for five minutes in the grocery store is a lot better — six times better — than shopping for 30 minutes,” Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Vox. You have increased odds of becoming infected the longer you are exposed.
“Picking up groceries at the curbside is even better, and having them delivered is even better still,” he added.
Online grocery shopping rates have swelled in the past year, increasing from 16.1 million people in August 2019, to 45.6 million in June 2020, according to a Brick Meets Click/Mercatus survey.
Still, grocery shopping is a necessity and other life needs may require you to be around others from time to time. There are safety measures you can take while grocery shopping amid the pandemic and mask-wearing is among them.
“The science is really clear on this — that masks are an important way that we can all slow down and prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Dr. Preeti Malani, chief health officer and professor of medicine in the infectious diseases division at the University of Michigan, told the American Medical Association.
Certain masks are better than others and not all reusable ones are created equally. Prevention has some tips on how to choose the best one and methods on wearing it correctly.
