Dec. 17, 2021 — High infectious illness officers anticipate a surge of COVID-19 circumstances after the vacations and say Omicron will quickly take over because the dominant pressure in the US.
One of the simplest ways to remain protected is by getting vaccinated and boosted, they are saying.
“For the unvaccinated, you are taking a look at a winter of extreme sickness and loss of life — for yourselves, households, and the hospitals who could quickly overwhelm,” White Home COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients mentioned at a information briefing Friday. “We want the American individuals to do their half.”
The Omicron variant has been detected in at the least 39 states and 75 international locations, in accordance with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD.
The pressure is extra transmissible than the already extremely infectious Delta variant, and though there was early proof that it prompted extra gentle illness, she mentioned that’s doubtless as a result of lots of these contaminated have been vaccinated and boosted.
“Though Delta continues to flow into broadly in the US, Omicron is rising quickly and we anticipate it to develop into the dominant pressure in the US, because it has in different international locations, within the coming weeks,” Walensky mentioned.
The U.S. is averaging near 1,300 deaths from COVID-19 every day. New circumstances, deaths, and hospitalizations are larger now than within the earlier winter — earlier than vaccines have been so broadly out there. The New York Times reported Friday that new infections in Connecticut and Maine have grown 150% prior to now 2 weeks, and Ohio and Indiana are seeing hospitalization charges nearing the worst of final winter’s surge.
Dueling experiences launched this week gave trigger for aid and concern about Omicron.
A research from South Africa launched Tuesday reveals decrease hospitalizations in the course of the first three weeks of the Omicron wave than throughout earlier waves from different variants. That’s the excellent news.
The regarding information is out of the UK, where Imperial College London reported Friday that the chance of re-infection with COVID-19 from Omicron is greater than 5 occasions as excessive and that circumstances of Omicron-based COVID-19 are doubling each 2 days.
What’s extra, the research “finds no proof of Omicron having decrease severity than Delta, judged by both the proportion of individuals testing constructive who report signs, or by the proportion of circumstances looking for hospital care after an infection. Nevertheless, hospitalization knowledge stays very restricted right now,” researchers mentioned.
“We’ve no proof that the virus itself is extra gentle,” Eric Topol, MD, govt vp of Scripps Analysis and editor-in-chief of Medscape, WebMD’s sister website for well being care professionals, advised PBS NewsHour. “Till we’ve that, we’ve to imagine that individuals who have no safety are extremely susceptible to getting very unwell.”
The White Home COVID-19 crew continues to induce dad and mom and guardians to get their youngsters vaccinated, particularly in anticipation of a post-holiday spike. Walensky mentioned the CDC’s vaccine advisory board met Thursday to proceed the security dialogue about COVID-19 vaccinations in youngsters.
Up to now, 20 million youngsters below 17 and 5 million below 11 have acquired their photographs.
“Trying particularly at vaccine security knowledge from over 50,000 youngsters 5-11 years outdated, we discovered no proof of significant security considerations,” Walensky mentioned.
High infectious illness professional Anthony Fauci, MD, highlighted the significance of getting vaccinated and boosted to keep away from severe illness from Delta and Omicron.
“We’re in a scenario the place we at the moment are dealing with a vital Delta surge and we’re trying over our shoulder at an oncoming Omicron surge,” he mentioned. “The optimum safety is absolutely vaccinated plus a lift.”
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