Current Events > Omicron to infect everyone?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html

"As the Omicron variant spreads like wildfire across the United States, it's likely just about everybody will be exposed to the strain, but vaccinated people will still fare better, the nation's leading infectious disease expert said Tuesday.

"Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody," Dr. Anthony Fauci told J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Those who have been vaccinated ... and boosted would get exposed. Some, maybe a lot of them, will get infected but will very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well in the sense of not having hospitalization and death."

In contrast, those who are not vaccinated are "going to get the brunt of the severe aspect of this," he added.

Across the United States, at least one in five eligible Americans -- roughly 65 million people-- are not vaccinated against Covid-19. More than 62% of the country has been fully vaccinated, but only 23% are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fauci's comments came in response to a question about whether the pandemic has entered a new phase. That will come when there's enough protection in the community and drugs to easily treat severe Covid-19, he said, adding, "We may be on the threshold of that right now."

Also Tuesday, US Food and Drug Administration acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said that while most people could catch the virus, the focus now should be on making sure hospitals and essential services function.

Woodcock was responding to a question from Sen. Mike Braun about whether it's time for the United States to change its Covid-19 strategy. Her statement was not a new assessment of Covid-19, but rather an attempt to make clear the need to prioritize essential services as the Omicron variant surges.

"I think it's hard to process what's actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get Covid," Woodcock said Tuesday at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. "And what we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, transportation, you know, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens."

On Tuesday, the number of US patients hospitalized with Covid-19 hit a record high, adding strain to health care networks and pushing states toward emergency staffing and other measures as they struggle to cope.

More than 145,900 people were in US hospitals with Covid-19 as of Tuesday -- a number that surpasses the previous peak from mid-January 2021 (142,246), and is almost twice what it was two weeks ago, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The hospitalization record comes amid a surge in cases fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The United States averaged more than 754,200 new Covid-19 cases daily over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That's about three times last winter's peak average (251,987 on January 11, 2021), and 4.5 times the peak from the Delta-driven surge (166,347 on September 1), according to JHU.

The country has averaged 1,646 Covid-19 deaths a day over the past week -- 33% higher than a week ago, according to JHU. The peak average was 3,402 daily on January 13, 2021, JHU data shows.

The Omicron variant caused 98.3% of new coronavirus cases in the United States last week, according to estimates posted Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Complete

Global

Saturation!

Yes, it will infect a large majority of the population. No, I am not worried.

Well once everyone has been infected, does that mean the pandemic would come to an end?

So can the pandemic be over now?

If I can hold off getting infected until just a bit after I get my booster next week

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


How many more mutations until it becomes like the common cold/flu?

Cause isn't the omicron already a lot milder than the initial virus?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Possibly but based on its already weakened state, it will hopefully just become an endemic like the flu or the cold. We can just get a seasonal shot every year like the flu. And go back to our normal lives

Cobra1010 posted...

How many more mutations until it becomes like the common cold/flu?

Cause isn't the omicron already a lot milder than the initial virus?

Milder than Delta, not the original IIRC. Omicron hitting a population that has a high rate of vaccinations and previous infections makes it less bad than an equivalently severe virus hitting a population with no previous experience.

Not worried but concerned

uwnim posted...

Yes, it will infect a large majority of the population. No, I am not worried.

This.

I'm vaxxed, boosted, and in relatively good health for my age.

I trust the science. So even if I were to get Covid, I'm confident that my symptoms will be mild, and I'll come out of it just fine.

I'm a little worried. My brother has it now and he's had some bad symptoms. He hopes to go to work Friday, but he describes it as the worst sickness he's had.

But he was hesitant on the booster for whatever reason.

bigblu89 posted...

This.

I'm vaxxed, boosted, and in relatively good health for my age.

I trust the science. So even if I were to get Covid, I'm confident that my symptoms will be mild, and I'll come out of it just fine.

Exactly. Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe

bigblu89 posted...

This.

I'm vaxxed, boosted, and in relatively good health for my age.

I trust the science. So even if I were to get Covid, I'm confident that my symptoms will be mild, and I'll come out of it just fine.

this

Double vaxxed, got Omicron a week ago. Was sick as a dog, but still pretty mild. Maybe twice, three times as bad as the ear infection I got a few months ago?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

So we'll never be free?

Doom_Art posted...

If I can hold off getting infected until just a bit after I get my booster next week

Takes two weeks to kick in, homeboy.

bsp77 posted...

Exactly. Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe

I like that.

Cocytus posted...

I like that.

A friend told me that like a week ago and it resonated

bigblu89 posted...

I'm vaxxed, boosted, and in relatively good health for my age.

I dig that, but I have a lot of comorbidities.