A newly-released study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that when the delta variant was spreading last summer, people who were vaccinated and previously infected by COVID had the best protection against the disease.

"If you have been infected, having a booster dose or having a vaccine dose afterwards is actually quite beneficial. We know it raises your antibodies level substantially," said Dr. Edward Walsh, head of infectious disease at Rochester General Hospital.

Dr. Walsh emphasizes infection alone won't protect you against COVID - at least not for long. You still need a vaccine.

"Previous infection immunity wanes over time, just like a vaccine," he said. "Both natural infection and vaccine induced infection are pretty good at preventing severe disease."

Dr. Walsh says if you had COVID recently, the best time to get a vaccine dose or booster shot is three months after. Natural immunity peaks about one month after infection.

In Monroe County, 75.5% of the population has at least one vaccine dose, according to state data. As the number of cases in the county decreases steadily, there is hope that the worst of the omicron variant is over.

When the rate of infection plateaued in 2020, doctors noticed a pattern. Cases went down, hospitalizations went down two weeks later, and the number of deaths decreased two weeks after that. Current data on the Monroe County COVID-19 dashboard show that the number of cases are decreasing.

"If it’s true our number of infections are dropping, then you might predict that 10 days or so from now, our hospitalization numbers will start to decline," said Dr. Walsh.