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Want some omicron good news?

I'm not a doctor or epidemiologist or virologist or anything but have seen some coverage over the last day or two that does offer some cause for optimism re: the omicron variant.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/tom-swarbrick/swarbrick-sunday/omicron-reaction-over-the-top-says-south-africa-med-assoc-head/

Note from the above the head of South Africa's medical association saying their omicron patients have very very mild symptoms, are so mild most are just staying home to rest (not requiring hospital stays), her own particular jurisdiction hasn't seen any omicron patients admitted to hospital at all.

Of admissions at one particular hospital, it's certainly the case they're seeing a lot of younger patients being admitted. But, as was the case when Delta first popped up, they're not seeing vaccinated patients admitted; 65% of admissions were unvaccinated, nearly all the rest only partially vaccinated (1 of 2 doses):

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/omicron-covid-south-africa-travel-bans-hospitals-surge.html

There's no taking anything for granted and the situation can always change, but I suppose it could be a bit comforting to know this variant has been in circulation at least a couple of weeks already but they're not seeing hospitals being overrun or anything approaching overrun, and vaccines may be holding up. Only time will tell, but I figured a little bit of good news to offset the doom and gloom could be nice!

(the caveat being SA has a pretty low vaccination rate so there aren't as many vaccinated people to contribute to the sample size. Nonetheless, 30% or so vaccinated and 0% vaccinated being in hospital is somewhat reassuring).

Posted by
2613 posts

Info much appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to post.

Posted by
26829 posts

The antivirals will help, but that article is two weeks old. In the meantime, the announced efficacy rate of one of the new antivirals has been reported at 30%--not as much of a game-changer as the earlier estimate (in the 80% range, I think) suggested.

Posted by
220 posts

Thanks for the informative update. Far too many people read only the sensationalized headlines and assume the worse. As several Forum posters have written, wait for the data before canceling trips or needlessly worrying. I’m booked on 3 RS tours next year and I expect that more variants will come and go before then. Stay flexible and vigilant, not depressed or pessimistic.

Posted by
6172 posts

That is certainly good news. But it is important to remember that the pandemic is not over, and even if omicron turns out to be not that bad, there might be new mutations.

Posted by
3809 posts

Stay flexible and vigilant, not depressed or pessimistic.

I read a NY Times review of the new English translation of French writer Hervé Le Tellier's The Anomaly, a novel which has sold 1.1 million in copies in France over the last year or so -- more than any other book there since 1984.

At any rate, one line from the book seems appropriate here and is uttered by a character named Victor Miesel:

A true pessimist knows it is already too late to be one.

Posted by
220 posts

Well I'm really hoping that the SA doctor's current experience proves to be true (mind you her practice usually only sees younger college-age patients). But with the world a bit rattled over it, I'd imagine it will put the breaks on travel at least for some months until things get sorted out (or we have some new booster). Sigh. So frustrating to everyone who has been social distancing, masking, and getting vaccinated.

I'm really hoping this doesn't turn out to be something awful again. We all need to be traveling more. I really feel for the tourism industry in Europe in particular and some of our major cities who haven't seen foreigners in a very very long time.

:(

Posted by
94 posts

I think it's so hard to know right now where this will go but I did read an interesting article earlier today that said the WHO was NOT recommending closing borders due to Omicron, and further said doing that usually didn't really help to curb transmission anyway, but rather put economic and personal strains of those in the countries affected by the travel bans.

Of course I can't find the article now.

This whole situation reminds me of when I was reading a picture book with my toddler daughter (now 16) and we saw a yellow light in the book. When I asked her what a yellow light meant, she said "panic!" We still laugh about that today. But that's what this is... a yellow light. Time to slow down, be cautious and then keep going... It's all we can do at this point, right?