Omicron Protection

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windeguy

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From Pravda on the Hudson email to me today:

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Treating Covid patients at a hospital in Worcester, Mass., yesterday.Joseph Prezioso/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images​

‘Not the same’​

The details of the Omicron variant are becoming clearer, and they are encouraging.​
They’re not entirely encouraging, and I will get into some detail about one of the biggest problems — the stress on hospitals, which are facing huge numbers of moderately ill Covid-19 patients. But regular readers of this newsletter know that I try to avoid the bad-news bias that often infects journalism. (We journalists tend to be comfortable delivering bad news straight up but uncomfortable reporting good news without extensive caveats.)​
So I want to be clear: The latest evidence about Covid is largely positive. A few weeks ago, many experts and journalists were warning that the initial evidence from South Africa — suggesting that Omicron was milder than other variants — might turn out to be a mirage. It has turned out to be real.​
“In hospitals around the country, doctors are taking notice,” my colleagues Emily Anthes and Azeen Ghorayshi write. “This wave of Covid seems different from the last one.”​
There are at least three main ways that Omicron looks substantially milder than other versions of the virus:​

1. Less hospitalization​

Somebody infected with Omicron is less likely to need hospital treatment than somebody infected with an earlier version of Covid.​
An analysis of patients in Houston, for example, found that Omicron patients were only about one-third as likely to need hospitalization as Delta patients. In Britain, people with Omicron were about half as likely to require hospital care, the government reported. The pattern looks similar in Canada, Emily and Azeen note.​
Hospitalizations are nonetheless rising in the U.S., because Omicron is so contagious that it has led to an explosion of cases. Many hospitals are running short of beds and staff, partly because of Covid-related absences. In Maryland, more people are hospitalized with Covid than ever.​
“Thankfully the Covid patients aren’t as sick. But there’s so many of them,” Craig Spencer, an emergency room doctor in New York, tweeted on Monday, after a long shift. “The next few weeks will be really, really tough for us.”​
The biggest potential problem is that overwhelmed hospitals will not be able to provide patients — whether they have Covid or other conditions — with straightforward but needed care. Some may die as a result. That possibility explains why many epidemiologists still urge people to take measures to reduce Covid’s spread during the Omicron surge. It’s likely to last at least a couple more weeks in the U.S.​

2. Milder hospitalization​

Omicron is not just less likely to send somebody to the hospital. Even among people who need hospital care, symptoms are milder on average than among people who were hospitalized in previous waves.​
A crucial reason appears to be that Omicron does not attack the lungs as earlier versions of Covid did. Omicron instead tends to be focused in the nose and throat, causing fewer patients to have breathing problems or need a ventilator.​
As Dr. Rahul Sharma of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell told The Times, “We’re not sending as many patients to the I.C.U., we’re not intubating as many patients, and actually, most of our patients that are coming to the emergency department that do test positive are actually being discharged.”​
In London, the number of patients on ventilators has remained roughly constant in recent weeks, even as the number of cases has soared, John Burn-Murdoch of The Financial Times noted.​

3. And deaths?​

In the U.S., mortality trends typically trail case trends by about three weeks — which means the Omicron surge, which began more than a month ago, should be visible in the death counts. It isn’t yet:​
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Data as of Jan. 3.Source: New York Times database​
Covid deaths will still probably rise in the U.S. in coming days or weeks, many experts say. For one thing, data can be delayed around major holidays. For another, millions of adults remain unvaccinated and vulnerable.​
But the increase in deaths is unlikely to be anywhere near as large as the increase last summer, during the Delta wave. Look at the data from South Africa, where the Omicron wave is already receding:​
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South Africa reported identification of Omicron on Nov. 24.Source: Johns Hopkins University​

The bottom line​

Given the combination of surging cases and milder disease, how should people respond?​
Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore’s former health commissioner, wrote a helpful Washington Post article in which she urged a middle path between reinstituting lockdowns and allowing Omicron to spread unchecked.​
“It’s unreasonable to ask vaccinated people to refrain from pre-pandemic activities,” Wen said. “After all, the individual risk to them is low, and there is a steep price to keeping students out of school, shuttering restaurants and retail shops and stopping travel and commerce.”​
But she urged people to get booster shots, recommended that they wear KN95 or N95 masks and encouraged governments and businesses to mandate vaccination. All of those measures can reduce the spread of Covid and, by extension, hospital crowding and death.​
What about elderly or immunocompromised people, who have been at some risk of major Covid illness even if they’re vaccinated?​
Different people will make different decisions, and that’s OK. Severely immunocompromised people — like those who have received organ transplants or are actively receiving cancer treatment — have reason to be extra cautious. For otherwise healthy older people, on the other hand, the latest data may be encouraging enough to affect their behavior.​
Consider this: Before Omicron, a typical vaccinated 75-year-old who contracted Covid had a roughly similar risk of death — around 1 in 200 — as a typical 75-year-old who contracted the flu. (Here are the details behind that calculation, which is based on an academic study.)​
Omicron has changed the calculation. Because it is milder than earlier versions of the virus, Covid now appears to present less threat to most vaccinated elderly people than the annual flu does.​
The flu, of course, does present risk for the elderly. And the sheer size of the Omicron surge may argue for caution over the next few weeks. But the combination of vaccines and Omicron’s apparent mildness means that, for an individual, Covid increasingly resembles the kind of health risk that people accept every day.​
More on the virus:​
  • The U.S. doubled its order for Pfizer’s Covid treatment pills, to cover a further 10 million patients.
  • Public school officials in Chicago have canceled all classes today amid a clash with the teachers’ union.
  • The Australian Open granted Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 men’s tennis player, an exemption to its vaccine requirements. But it is unclear whether he will be able to enter the country.
 

windeguy

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Anyone predicting a surge in cases from Omicron has a mastery in the obvious. Peak Covid is the new term used for that trend.

Note the new narrative from the NY Times above: Covid increasingly resembles the kind of health risk that people accept every day.
 

windeguy

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And in some most important French developments:

The French parliament suspended debate on a new COVID-19 law as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to "piss off" unvaccinated people. The new legislation will make it mandatory for people to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant or cinema, or take the train.

The DR already has such a set of restrictions that are not enforced, so few are "pissed off" here, as Macron would put it.
 

El Hijo de Manolo

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And in some most important French developments:



The DR already has such a set of restrictions that are not enforced, so few are "pissed off" here, as Macron would put it.
Lots of stuff coming out of France today, including the latest trend in variants! IHU. For those of you that don't speak French, this loosely translates to "don't drop the soap in the shower if I were you"
 
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JD Jones

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So now we have yet another new Covid strain - IHU

 

El Hijo de Manolo

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So now we have yet another new Covid strain - IHU

I truly thought they would continue with the marketing-style brand names like "Omicron".
 
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mountainannie

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So wait .. this is why we need to shut down the whole planet, because a Child might get a flu like virus ,and the parents have to stay home to take care of the child ?

and no i was not yelling . but you certainly have a unique view

and are you admitting at least that there are no Known Child Deaths from Omicron especially .. which almost all Medical Experts have agreed is like the Last Gasp of this Virus before it fades into oblivion .
Why then would we vaccinate children against a weak Virus which does not affect their Health , , and other than making their parents stay home for a couple days , does not even affect their lives . Side effects from The Vaccine otoh ... BIG problems and thats just what we know about so far .
I actually don't think that I have a unique view.

I am certainly not in favor of "shutting down the planet"

I never "admitted" that there are no known Child deaths - but the number is low https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/12/30/omicron-sending-us-kids-to-hospital-in-near-record-numbers/. About 720 according to that article... but .. it is probably because those children already had underlying issues.

It is certainly up to the parents whether or not they wish to vaccinate their children. Just as it is up to everyone whether or not they wish to vaccinate themselves.

My best friend was in the ICU for 6 weeks - as I think I said.. She still can not walk more than 100 ft without stopping.

You perhaps think that because I am a Democrat, I am in favor of some sort of huge govenrment lockdown?

I already posted that I think that DeSantis has handled the outbreak here in Florida very well by giving every county the power to decide for themselves.

I suspect that I am more libertarian than you are.
 

windeguy

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The seriousness of a stagnant COVID-19 variant identified in France in November was downplayed by global health officials, who said they were still watching it closely on Tuesday.

IHU is just a nickname. I suppose a greek letter could be assigned eventually.
 
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ben jammin

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Symptoms according to vaccine status​

Elsewhere, Mucio Kit Delgado, an assistant professor in Emergency Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center emergency department, said on Twitter on Monday that he had seen a "strikingly consistent pattern" in symptoms based on vaccination status.

Delgado said that he "hardly saw anyone who had gotten a booster because if they caught COVID-19 they're likely at home doing fine or having regular cold/flu-like symptoms."

Meanwhile, when people were vaccinated but not boosted, he said he found many patients were "wiped out, dehydrated and febrile." Delgado said that people who were older than 55 or had other medical problems were often admitted overnight for intravenous fluids and "supportive care," but usually went home within a day or two.


Finally, Delgado said that in his experience, unvaccinated people were "the folks that get sick and had to be hospitalized because they need oxygen." "Some even younger than me," he said.
 

OwnRules

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So now we have yet another new Covid strain - IHU


Won't be the last as long as the virus keeps finding hosts:

Unvaccinated People Are Increasing the Chances for More Coronavirus Variants — Here’s How

  • Experts say the number of unvaccinated people in the United States is a key reason coronavirus variants are emerging.
  • They explain that the virus replicates quicker in unvaccinated people, increasing the chance of mutations.
  • They’re concerned that new COVID-19 cases will continue to rise as variants spread and people still refuse to get vaccinated.


    Chances are, the coronavirus variant known as Epsilon might not be on your radar, but scientists sure are watching it.
    First discovered in California last December, it’s now spreading in Pakistan.
    “This is worrisome, as it is more transmissible than original strains of the virus,” said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network in New York City.
    She added, “there is some early evidence” that the variant could be resistant to the vaccines.
    So far, scientists in the United States say COVID-19 vaccines seem to be holding up against a new crop of variants that include Gamma, Lambda, Delta Plus, and even the Delta variant that’s responsible for 90 percent of new cases in the country.
    But some experts are worried the clock is ticking.
    “It’s perhaps just a matter of time,” said Dr. Michael Saag, a professor of medicine, infectious diseases, and virology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
    “Let’s say, hypothetically, that a new variant could emerge where we won’t be so fortunate, and the existing vaccines won’t work,” Saag explained to Healthline.
    “I call that hypothetical variant Omega. That’s the one we’re all fearing. It hasn’t happened yet, and we hope it doesn’t. But the longer this goes on with widespread transmission, the possibility increases with time,” he said.

    Millions unvaccinated​

    The White House COVID-19 Response Team noted that more than 165 million Americans are fully vaccinated.
    However, there are still about 90 million who are eligible to be vaccinated but haven’t been.
    Experts say the uptick in COVID-19 cases is happening largely because of the number of people who remain unvaccinated.
    “They play a huge role. If everyone is vaccinated, eventually infections drop to zero and so do variants,“ Parikh said. “But if the virus has an easy host, such as an unvaccinated individual, then it is easy for it to mutate into a more contagious and virulent form.”​


 

OwnRules

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Your information is WRONG ..
Kids in the USA are Doing FINE ... the NUMERATOR has changed drastically so the Hospitalization rate has gone UP Dramatically
. the Death rate is almost ZERO .

Read the darn article posted before .

Don't Look Up

 

chico bill

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Symptoms according to vaccine status​

Elsewhere, Mucio Kit Delgado, an assistant professor in Emergency Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center emergency department, said on Twitter on Monday that he had seen a "strikingly consistent pattern" in symptoms based on vaccination status.

Delgado said that he "hardly saw anyone who had gotten a booster because if they caught COVID-19 they're likely at home doing fine or having regular cold/flu-like symptoms."

Meanwhile, when people were vaccinated but not boosted, he said he found many patients were "wiped out, dehydrated and febrile." Delgado said that people who were older than 55 or had other medical problems were often admitted overnight for intravenous fluids and "supportive care," but usually went home within a day or two.


Finally, Delgado said that in his experience, unvaccinated people were "the folks that get sick and had to be hospitalized because they need oxygen." "Some even younger than me," he said.
OK great go get your boosters.
Boost till your DNA turns you into an old Chinese woman.
If you're right good for you.
And the unvaccinated are not a threat to you.
Personal responsibility is making your own decision. Let others do that. We'll all be alright.
 

william webster

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Here's a recap of the case load -

Dec 19 272 Dec 26 339 Jan 02 2026
Dec 20 162 Dec 27 478 Jan 03 2856
Dec 21 139 Dec 28 655 Jan 04 3700
Dec 22 241 Dec 29 911 Jan 05 5201
Dec 23 422 Dec 30 998
Dec 24 506 Dec 31 1510
Dec 25 696 Jan 01 1149

You can see it moving up but we haven't seen the doubling every 2-3 days --- yet !
 

Cdn_Gringo

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You can see it moving up but we haven't seen the doubling every 2-3 days --- yet !

5201 new cases in the last update. 3700 reported the day before. Not a doubling but a lot of spread that seems to be increasing day to day. I think we are just getting started here in the DR.
 
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