Covid analysis on less severe

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   There's a growing, caveat-filled consensus among public health experts that the new Omicron strain of the coronavirus is both more contagious and less severe than other COVID-19 strains. The evidence for greater transmissibility is more persuasive at this point than reduced severity, but "thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity," Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN this weekend.
Given the on-the-ground reports from the Omicron epicenter, Tshwane in South Africa, "I think the signs are actually extremely optimistic," Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. David Dowdy tells The New York Times. Cases are soaring, most of them from the Omicron strain, but deaths are not rising.
Dr. Fareed Abdullah at the South African Medical Research Council told the Times on Monday that walking into the COVID-19 ward of the Tshwane District Hospital Complex is a very different experience than in previous waves, due to the lack of ventilator beeps and humming. "Out of 17 patients, four were on oxygen," he said. However, Abdullah wrote in a report over the weekend, "this may be due to the usual lag between cases and deaths."
Severe COVID illness often takes a week or more to develop, and the world has been aware of Omicron for less than two weeks," David Leonhardt explains at the Times. Also, "the initial studies of Omicron patients have also come disproportionately from South Africa, where the population skews young and many people were previously infected with Delta. Both groups are unlikely to get very sick."

If the Omicron variant proves to be more contagious, "scientists are anxiously watching" whether it overthrows "the world-dominating" Delta strain in the U.S. and globally, The Associated Press reports. And if it turns out to be less severe, "it would be a great thing if, in fact, Omicron crowded out Delta," Dr. Warner Greene at San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes tells USA Today. "If Omicron was a less pathogenic virus, that would be very good news for the human race."
Maybe, Leonhardt writes. "One worrisome postscript is that even seemingly mild COVID infections can prove deadly for vulnerable people, like the elderly. The flu kills large numbers of elderly people for the same reason." And any reduction in severity could be canceled out by the spike in cases it produces, for a net increase in hospitalizations and deaths, World Health Organization COVID expert Dr. Maria van Kerkhove told CBS News on Sunday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-good-news-omicron-variants-135130386.html

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
roni3470 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Adviser Group Joined: August 30 2006 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 5390	Post Options Post Reply Quote roni3470 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Covid analysis on less severe Posted: December 08 2021 at 7:44pm
	There's a growing, caveat-filled consensus among public health experts that the new Omicron strain of the coronavirus is both more contagious and less severe than other COVID-19 strains. The evidence for greater transmissibility is more persuasive at this point than reduced severity, but "thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity," Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN this weekend. Given the on-the-ground reports from the Omicron epicenter, Tshwane in South Africa, "I think the signs are actually extremely optimistic," Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. David Dowdy tells The New York Times. Cases are soaring, most of them from the Omicron strain, but deaths are not rising. Dr. Fareed Abdullah at the South African Medical Research Council told the Times on Monday that walking into the COVID-19 ward of the Tshwane District Hospital Complex is a very different experience than in previous waves, due to the lack of ventilator beeps and humming. "Out of 17 patients, four were on oxygen," he said. However, Abdullah wrote in a report over the weekend, "this may be due to the usual lag between cases and deaths." Severe COVID illness often takes a week or more to develop, and the world has been aware of Omicron for less than two weeks," David Leonhardt explains at the Times. Also, "the initial studies of Omicron patients have also come disproportionately from South Africa, where the population skews young and many people were previously infected with Delta. Both groups are unlikely to get very sick." If the Omicron variant proves to be more contagious, "scientists are anxiously watching" whether it overthrows "the world-dominating" Delta strain in the U.S. and globally, The Associated Press reports. And if it turns out to be less severe, "it would be a great thing if, in fact, Omicron crowded out Delta," Dr. Warner Greene at San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes tells USA Today. "If Omicron was a less pathogenic virus, that would be very good news for the human race." Maybe, Leonhardt writes. "One worrisome postscript is that even seemingly mild COVID infections can prove deadly for vulnerable people, like the elderly. The flu kills large numbers of elderly people for the same reason." And any reduction in severity could be canceled out by the spike in cases it produces, for a net increase in hospitalizations and deaths, World Health Organization COVID expert Dr. Maria van Kerkhove told CBS News on Sunday. https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-good-news-omicron-variants-135130386.html
	NOW is the Season to Know that Everything you Do is Sacred

roni3470 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Adviser Group Joined: August 30 2006 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 5390	Post Options Post Reply Quote roni3470 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 08 2021 at 7:48pm
	Stealth Omnicron https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/called-stealth-omicron-offshoot-identified-014318927.html Scientists have identified a new Covid-19 lineage responsible for a number of recent Covid cases in South Africa, Australia and Canada that displays “many of the defining mutations of B.1.1.529 (Omicron) [but does] not have the full set. These cases also have “a number of their own unique mutations,” according to analysis posted on information sharing platform GitHub. The platform is widely used by top researchers to share data and information related to Covid-19. As a result of those similarities and differences with the original Omicron, which was first identified about two weeks ago, the new sequence is being called BA.2, while the original variant has been dubbed BA.1. More from Deadline Newest Omicron Case In Los Angeles Is USC Student, Announces University - Update New York City To Require Vaccines For Private Sector Workers Starting Dec. 27; Mandate, A National First, Will Apply To About 184,000 Businesses Broadway's 'Wicked' Weekend Performances Canceled Due To Covid The new lineage is being called “stealth” Omicron by some scientists and news outlets because, while PCR tests do identify it as Covid, the mutations on BA.2 defy a shortcut used by scientists to identify a Covid case specifically as Omicron. Why does that matter? It makes tracking the spread of Omicron more difficult at a time when surveillance of the new variant is critical to understanding it. Only seven cases of BA.2 have been identified thus far, reported the Guardian, the picture is still far from complete. Per the Guardian: “To have two variants, BA.1 and BA.2, arise in quick succession with shared mutations is ‘worrying’ according to one researcher, and suggests public health surveillance ‘is missing a big piece of the puzzle.’ ” It is also unclear exactly how or if the unique mutations in BA.2 will impact its transmissibility and virulence. The original Omicron (now BA.1) has been identified in 19 states, according to CDC data and over 50 countries, said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday.
	NOW is the Season to Know that Everything you Do is Sacred