Don't Try to Power Through COVID-19, Doctors Warn Amid Rise of New Variant BA.5

Scientists are now worried the new COVID-19 omicron subvariants could become the most infectious disease in history.  

If you haven't tested positive yourself, you probably know someone who has.

Experts say powering through the illness may not always be the best plan. But that isn’t stopping some people from working from home while battling the illness.

“I wanted to make sure that my company knew that I was all in and that I wanted to work as hard as I possibly could,” marketing analyst Joey Rachwal said.

Armed with pain relievers, a bottle of water, an inhaler and a thermometer, medical scheduler Rayne DeBlasio also powered through COVID-19. “When you have Covid, but you’re still a workaholic,” she wrote on TikTok.

Inside Edition correspondent Steven Fabian is also trying to work from home with a reduced schedule while he and his family recover from the virus.

But some doctors say working through it may be sending the wrong message.

“If you have a sore throat and a runny nose, if you don't rest, there’s a chance, like the CDC is saying, that you may wake up the next day if you push it that day and feel much worse,” Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena said.

The latest omicron variant, BA.5, has some experts calling it the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen, because it evades antibodies from vaccines and previous infections.

Coie-Pena says if you are showing symptoms, don't try to power through it. The most important thing is rest.

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