If you really follow this stuff you should not be surprised….
The Omicron strain of virus has swept thru the planet at warp speed….
It does not respect current vaccinations much….
But?
The good thing, if you can say that?
Is it’s ability to spread seems to cost it it’s severity…..
Here in America case number data seems to have cases increasing by double digit percentages , but hospital stays and death in the low single digits….
In addition?
The epicentre of the strain is now seeing sharp drops in cases as the strain seems to be burning itself out….
Could a sharp drop in American cases be far behind right after the holiday season?
The remarkable thing is the American media is actually reporting this, instead of the daily hair on fire stuff….
Meanwhile….
Pfizer has been given approval on it’s home Covid treatment pill , Paxlovid, for those who might need it….
“If previous variants caused waves shaped like Kilimanjaro, omicron’s is more like we were scaling the North Face of Everest,” Salim Abdool Karim said in an interview, referring to the near-vertical increase in infections that South Africa recorded in the first weeks of December.
“Now we’re going down, right back down, the South Face — and that is the way we think it may work with a variant like omicron, and perhaps even more broadly what we’ll see with subsequent variants at this stage of the pandemic,” he said.
Just a week ago, South Africa was seeing skyrocketing positivity rates and massive lines for testing. But during the first days of this week, there has been a turnaround in rates and stress on testing facilities. In addressing the surge of infections, South Africa had decided not to impose a lockdown or other major restrictions, although many countries, including the United States, imposed restrictions on travelers originating in South Africa and neighboring countries….
Why do I think this is Tooooo Good to be true?
If so?…Was the drug maker’s just making money?
David Priess
@DavidPriess
Huge if true—
Walter Reed scientists “expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that protects people from COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.”
Science is always progressing. This entire pandemic was of course very new and we needed the vaccines we did get as soon as possible and they have a world of good.
Hopefully, this will pan out and the battle against Covid can somehow be won entirely and those who think we need to defund or cut the military budget should take note.
I bet this is the time that those sometimes-violent mobs who are more extreme than even DJT, will soon campaign to Defund the Public Health Service, CDC and NIH.
[The U.S. Public Health Service, by the way, goes back to 1798 when Congress established marine hospitals to care for sailors.]
Wouldn’t be surprised DSD……
But Obamacare IS here to stay
The NY Times finally admits the Omicron strain of Covid has a mild effect on most humans….
By Carl Zimmer and Emily Anthes
Dec. 22, 2021
Updated 8:01 p.m. ET
Three separate teams of scientists on two continents have found that Omicron infections more often result in mild illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus, offering hope that the current surge may not be quite as catastrophic as feared despite skyrocketing caseloads.
The researchers examined Omicron’s course through populations in South Africa, Scotland and England. The results in each setting, while still preliminary, all suggested that the variant was less likely to send people in hospitals.
“Given that this is everywhere and given that it’s going to be so transmissible, anything that would lower severity is going to be better,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta…
…
Initial estimates suggest that compared with Delta variant cases, individuals infected with Omicron are 15 to 20 percent on average less likely to turn up in hospitals overall and 40 to 45 percent less likely to be hospitalized for a night or more….
More…
Well…Well?
Trump Defends Coronavirus Vaccines
Former President Donald Trump defended the coronavirus vaccines when conservative interviewer Candace Owens tried to undermine their efficacy an an attempt to hurt President Joe Biden politically.
Said Trump: “Oh no, the vaccines work, but some people aren’t the ones. The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected.”
He added: “Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”
he Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday authorized a COVID-19 treatment from Merck, marking the second pill to become available to fight the virus.
This authorization is more limited than one on Wednesday for a Pfizer pill. The FDA authorized the Merck pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, for high-risk adults “for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate.”
That is, if other options are not available, the Merck pill can be used….
The Hill