Most reported U.S. Omicron cases have hit the fully vaccinated -CDC

[OneCrazyDiamond]

Source: Reuters

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Most of the 43 COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant identified in the United States so far were in people who were fully vaccinated, and a third of them had received a booster dose, according to a U.S. report published on Friday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that of the 43 cases attributed to Omicron variant, 34 people had been fully vaccinated. Fourteen of them had also received a booster, although five of those cases occurred less than 14 days after the additional shot before full protection kicks in.

While the numbers are very small, they add to growing concerns that current COVID-19 vaccines may offer less protection against the highly transmissible new variant.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-reported-us-omicron-cases-have-hit-fully-vaccinated-cdc-2021-12-10/

[SKKY]

1. Get vaccinated, or don't get vaccinated. I have zero f$%ks to give at this point...

...Everyone I love is vaccinated, so if you wanna go roll the dice, have at it. I couldn't care less.

[NH Ethylene]

20. That's how I feel about right now too.

The variants will keep on coming unless the whole world is inoculated with an effective vaccine, so it doesn't really matter.

I feel so badly for medical personnel though.

[luvtheGWN]

51. Folks who are fully vaccinated

are living in a fool's paradise. I'm fully vaccinated and getting a booster next week. BUT...I am still wearing a mask, avoiding indoor restaurants, and still using disinfectant if i think that I've being "in touch" with someone who could perhaps be infected. Our daily totals here in Ontario are still rising with a 4.4% positivity rate, even though some 87% have been double-vaccinated. I'm shopping on a limited basis and only seeing folks who are using the same protocols.

We really have no idea what's what with this new variant. Always, ALWAYS better to play it safe.

[wnylib]

58. 4.4% positivity rate?

I'm not far from you, near Buffalo. We have 12.5% positivity rate here and still climbing. I heard that there was an omicron outbreak in a Toronto school.

By the time that omicron and Christmas arrive here, I expect to see rates near 20%.

[SKKY]

75. For sure! My family and I do the exact same. We mask up when in public...

...and we take the necessary precautions. BECAUSE WE'RE FREAKING ADULTS!!! Even my 8 year-old is more of an adult than half of these clowns. And we're also aware that being vaccinated and boosted does not necessarily guarantee we won't get infected. But it pretty much guarantees we won't freaking die if we do get infected.

[maxsolomon]

78. In what way are the fully vaxxed "living in a fool's paradise"?

I already have my booster, since 12/4.

Who is blithely walking around thinking Omicron isn't highly contagious? No one.

[luvtheGWN]

79. Well, judging by what I see in packed arenas

for basketball and NHL games in the US, I'd say there are plenty of folks who are indeed living in a fool's paradise, thinking they are safe from the virus. Not to mention far too many who are not wearing masks.

[maxsolomon]

84. So, SOME people are.

Not all. Fatalism is gripping many people: "you can't avoid Omicron, so why bother?"

[Initech]

74. Time to start declaring the unvaxxed uninsurable.

Maybe then they might get the message, or they'll declare war on "big insurance" and start their own insurance firms.

[Bleacher Creature]

2. It's scary, but it's also such a small sample.

Hopefully we'll have more definitive answers soon.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

55. Yes. Initial toeholds could be in vaxed clusters. Expect it to really bust out in the unvaxed

More people are vaxed than unvaxed and being vaxed is a huge help in avoiding serious complications. So I'm not surprised first clusters are vaxed. People who travel, for example or deal with travellers, tend to be vaxed.

[wnylib]

60. Also consider that vaxxed people

may have a false sense of security. They will go in public without masks, eat out at restaurants, go to concerts and theaters, and resume traveling and vacations. So they are exposed.

NY has resumed a mask mandate for all public places. That should help, even though some people will defy it or wear their masks wrong.

[DemocraticPatriot]

83. Yes, and the results may be skewed because vaccinated people are also

much more likely to get tested if they have any symptoms...

[Ocelot II]

3. 43 is too small a number to really mean anything.

Depends a lot on where the people live - were they in areas where omicron has arrived and most people are vaccinated? If so, breakthrough cases would be likely. But 43 isn't a statistically significant number; we won't know how effective vaccines are until there are more cases of omicron throughout the country.

[RKP5637]

4. Exactly! Well! n/t

[OneCrazyDiamond]

6. Yep.

The Delta variant still accounts for more than 99% of all U.S. cases.

[Salviati]

17. I imagine it will follow the same pattern as the other variants...

It will hit the coastal, high international travel areas first, since they're also places that are highly vaccinated, we'll see more breakthrough cases, just because there is a larger pool to draw from. But by early next year, it will be running wild in the unvaccinated rural areas and red states.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

30. I wouldn't bet against your prediction. n/t

[Mme. Defarge]

5. The article leaves out important information

since, as we know, not all vaccination types are equal.

[doc03]

7. That will be a headline at Fox if not already. nt

[dgauss]

8. Becoming infected and becoming seriously ill are two different things.

The important stat will be who becomes seriously ill. That's what the vaccines are supposed to prevent.

[Talitha]

26. THIS

[durablend]

33. But my concern....

The vaccinated may avoid serious illness but what long haul surprises are in store in the years to come?

[Tomconroy]

36. There is a good NPR article on this subject. I'd link to it but

I've done it too many times already.

[appalachiablue]

50. NPR: Info. on Long Haul Covid complexities & mystery

- NPR, 'What Causes Long COVID Is A Mystery. Here's How Scientists Are Trying To Crack It,' Sept. 20, 2021.

- MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Long COVID has left thousands with a laundry list of sometimes debilitating symptoms many months after first getting infected with the coronavirus. Scientists do not know yet what causes it. But as NPR's Will Stone reports, they have found some clues for what could be going on.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: Two hundred and three. That's how many different symptoms researchers unearthed during a recent study of long COVID. Hannah Davis was part of the team that detailed those findings in a medical journal published by The Lancet.

HANNAH DAVIS: Most people have dozens of symptoms over multiple organ systems.

STONE: There's brain fog, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue, also rashes and heart palpitations, hearing loss. The list goes on. Davis has long COVID herself and leads a patient advocacy group. She says how patients experience these symptoms tends to vary.
DAVIS: It's really not just, like, you have something or you don't. It's more like, is it consistent or not? Is it relapsing or not? Is it severe or not?

STONE: Scientists are trying to decode this shapeshifting illness. And Davis says don't expect one answer.
DAVIS: The biggest thing for everyone working with long COVID to consider is that complexity. I think that any answer is going to incorporate that it's a multi-systemic illness.
STONE: Late last year Congress approved more than $1 billion to study long COVID. Dr. Walter Koroshetz leads the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

> WALTER KOROSHETZ: The big surprise was that a greater number of people who were never hospitalized were still having consistent symptoms.
STONE: That showed researchers like Koroshetz that it wasn't simply that the virus damaged organs and tissue and patients needed time to recover. Something else was going on, even for those who had mild or asymptomatic infections. As for what's driving long COVID, though...
KOROSHETZ: I don't think anything is pointing in one direction or the other...

- Read More, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1030723370
_______

- 'Study of up to 40,000 people will probe mysteries of Long Covid.' Award $470 mill from National Institutes of Health will enroll volunteers w/ long-term symptoms after coronavirus infection. Science, Sept. 15, '21,
https://www.science.org/content/article/study-40-000-people-will-probe-mysteries-long-covid

[yardwork]

49. I had Covid several months ago. Fully vaccinated, my illness was very mild.

The vaccine did what it was supposed to do for me.

[artemisia1]

61. You nailed it. I had to postpone my vaccination due to health reasons and only have the first shot

but will be eligible to get the second in three days. I'm holding my breath until then.

[wnylib]

73. True. But also important

is the fact that seniors are the people most likely to have breakthrough infections. Unfortunately, they are also tge ones most likely to have serious cases if they get infected. So omicron will be a real problem fot seniors more than for other parts of the population.

[truthisfreedom]

9. Put another booster together Pfizer and Moderna!

We need it now!

[LisaL]

27. Both Moderna and Pfizer are working on omicron booster.

But it will take months to test and then approve.

[JudyM]

82. Announced today

Pfizer anticipates release of an omicron vaccine in March.

[IronLionZion]

10. That could be why they had mild symptoms

although the anti-vax story will be that vaccines don't work or somehow caused the infections.

Either way, we'll have lots more data after the holidays.

[johnp3907]

44. You seem nice.

[GP6971]

45. Bye!! n/t

[IronLionZion]

47. The vaccine turned me into a newt

I got better. Good night and good luck!

[Justice matters.]

11. Again, fully vaccinated doesn't mean never infected again.

Fully vaccinated helps prevent ending up in ICUs. Doesn't guarantee never ending up there either, only helps preventing it.

[PaulRevere08]

24. Why don't people get this! The virus is not going to look at someone's vax status and move on.

Being vaxxed means your body's resources are in much better shape to deal with the infection and reduce the chance of spreading it to someone else. The MSM has done such a poor job of basic education around viruses and vaccinations.

[Bengus81]

35. Yup...the shingles vaccine will not stop you from getting shingles

But it will be a mild case which is still painful but nothing like full blown shingles.

[DENVERPOPS]

57. There are many vaccinations

that require being re-vaccinated every so many years.
Rabies, tetanus, etc.

I guarantee, if you get either of those because you aren't up on your vaccinations, you won't have just mild symptoms........LOL

[cadoman]

80. agreed but it would be concerning if the vaccine introduced a propensity to infection

Omicron is looking much less deadly but it would have been really awful if the vaccinated had gotten infected more frequently with a deadlier variant.

Thankfully the numbers are still looking good for the vaccinated. Just keep that booster up to date.

[blm]

12. But, DID THEY DIE?

[deurbano]

14. Or even get hospitalized?

[OneCrazyDiamond]

19. Yes according to the CDC,

but only 1.

[deurbano]

25. It's like in Marin County right now, with extremely high vax rates... cases are going way up,

but NOT hospitalizations..or deaths. That's the critical point that should be emphasized.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

28. I think the critical point is

Vaccination is still our best defence against COVID-19, but does not eliminate the need to practice good hygiene, masking, and social distancing.

[deurbano]

32. Totally agree. My daughter is attending UC Irvine, and when she went to a recent student dance

concert on campus, not only was the theater audience required to wear masks (and, of course, UCI has a vaccination mandate), but the dancers wore masks, too. (I watched it online, and it was still beautiful and moving....). My daughter is on a dance team, and even when they practice and perform OUTSIDE at UCI, they wear masks! Yet they still manage to have tons of fun and somehow are able to survive all this "abuse" and "tyranny"! (I will admit it is harder to find my child in a video of masked dancers!).

[luvtheGWN]

52. Good to know.

The same criteria apply here in Ontario.

[COL Mustard]

67. I Love It. It's 2021, Almost 2022...

And we're talking about hand washing. Where are the flying cars? I want my flying car, dammit. I know how to wash my hands!!!!!

[OneCrazyDiamond]

72. Thank the GQP

and their magat minions.

[Bucky]

76. You can't get your flying cars until we reach a 90% vax rate

[COL Mustard]

77. Awwwwww.

We'll NEVER get them!

[totodeinhere]

13. I think we are getting mixed messages about this.

While research suggests that COVID-19 vaccines are slightly less effective against the delta variant, the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines still appear to provide protection against severe COVID-19.

https://tinyurl.com/2khnasty

[OneCrazyDiamond]

29. They are trying to get us the best info

about a dynamic situation. They won't always be 100% right the first time.

[beaglelover]

15. Have any of these vaxed people infected with Omicron died?

As far as I've heard, everyone infected with Omicron who has been fully vaxed has had very mild cases. No hospitalization or death.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

18. I have heard of no deaths.

The CDC say 1 (2%) hospitalized, so far.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e1.htm?s_cid=mm7050e1_w

[SWBTATTReg]

16. There are discussions going on to have a fourth shot now (besides the first two/initial booster ...

shot). As many others have said on DU previously, this will probably develop into an annual thing, getting booster shots, since it's looking more and more likely that the Corona Virus seems to be similar to the flu virus in its mutating capacity.

[Pobeka]

21. This is awful reporting. Makes me crazy. Here's why

What do we know about the 43 cases mentioned?

Are they all from areas with high vaccination rates -- if so, then we'd *expect* that the infections would mostly occur in vaccinated individuals.

And 43. Sheesh, put that very small sample in combination of not knowing where the individuals are, what their social circumstances are, gives nothing credible to report.

A sample of people we don't really know anything about doesn't give me *any* faith that the sample is representative of the entire population of people in the USA. It could so easily (and even likely) a very, very biased sample.

I suspect the CDC has much better details about these 43 people, which would be kinda helpful, but still, only 43...

[LisaL]

22. Also, the early omicron cases are likely from people who traveled either out of the country or out

of state. Those traveling out of the country are mostly vaccinated (they have to be for travel).

[OneCrazyDiamond]

23. The variant is too new.

Here is the CDC link:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e1.htm?s_cid=mm7050e1_w

[IronLionZion]

34. South Africa has more data on that for folks who are interested

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/09/south-africa-omicron-crisis-cases-hospitalizations-and-vaccinations.html

They do have young unvaccinated folks hospitalized with Omicron. But thankfully no one died from it yet. That looks promising for optimists. The US will find out soon enough after the holidays.

[questionseverything]

69. The cdc link @ 18 has full info

N/t

[moreland01]

31. A local brewery/eatery closed

in my town. They said that they just couldn't weather the Covid waves (lack of customers), inflation and lack of workers.

So, to all of you small businesses who refuse (even fight) a vaccine passport, this is what you can expect more of.

Small businesses who think they can survive on anti-vaxxer business alone might need to reconsider.

There are way more of us and we demand to know that the person eating/drinking next to us (maskless) has been vaccinated before we spend our money in your establishments.

Another winter where we will not be eating indoors in restaurants. We will not be going to watch live music in bars/entertainment venues.

This has GOT to be hurting small businesses, like our local brewery, and I'm just floored that more of them aren't requirement proof of vaccination.

[Tomconroy]

37. Pfizer has said it's booster will be effective

It's already been tested against a lab created strain of Omicron and will be tested against actual samples within a week. Those tests will show the same thing.
The vaccine was designed to combat the original Wuhan strain. It's stood up against several variants. Pfizer, the real hero of the crisis, is confident it will handle this variant.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

38. I hope your right.

There is a story from Germany of 7 young boosted Germans contracting it. 6 got Pfizer. 1 got mederna. They were in South Africa supposedly.

I dont know Germany well enough to post it, as there is a lot of bunk info.

[jeffreyi]

39. Because, fully vaccinated people more likely to get tested?

In my small rural county, I bet half the cases have never been reported. And much of the population is unvaccinated, and unlikely to interact with the health system, thus be counted. So if Omicron is here, chances are we don't know the true numbers.

[Quixote1818]

65. Also, a lot more of the population is vaccinated. More targets. nt

[NullTuples]

40. This is not at all unexpected?

If the patterns are holding it's hitting cities first, which are likely blue & vaxxed.
Which means in another X weeks it'll be hitting red rural areas where people are NOT vaxxed; I expect death rates to go up.
Also, these are positive cases, not hospitlizations or deaths.
Finally, we've pretty much abandoned social distancing and are mostly running with "masks and vaxxing". So it's spreading quicker. This may or may not be a bad thing overall, but it's really bad for people who cannot vaccinate.

[ananda]

41. Being vaxxed will help you deal with the illness.

Three people in my family got Delta recently.

All of them licked it in a few days.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

42. Omicron variant cases found in 25 states. Most are mild so far, CDC says

The first handful of omicron cases in the United States have been mostly mild, with most patients reporting symptoms such as cough or a runny nose, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings, published Friday, offer an early glimpse into how people might fare against the heavily mutated Covid-19 variant, now in at least 25 states, though health experts stress it's still too early to draw any strong conclusions on how it will spread in the country.

The agency's five-page report looked at 43 people in the U.S. with a confirmed case of the new strain, one of whom was hospitalized. More than half of the people were young, between the ages of 18 and 39.

More than three-quarters were fully vaccinated, including a third who had also received a booster shot. Six cases had a previously documented Covid infection. A third of the people had recently traveled internationally, according to the CDC study.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/omicron-variant-cases-found-in-25-states-most-are-mild-so-far-cdc-says/ar-AARH2Qi

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

48. Some vaccines really do keep you from ever getting the disease.

Smallpox comes to mind.

The flu vaccine, on the other hand, has always been far less effective, in large part because of the way influenza mutates all the time.

Covid is closer to flu than to smallpox in that respect.

I just got my Covid booster today, and while I'm still not personally willing to get on board an airplane and fly anywhere, and I still wear a mask indoors and don't go out anywhere near as often as I used to, I almost feel as if I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. But the tunnel is still very long, and that light is still a long, long ways away.

[cinematicdiversions]

53. So only people travelling internationally have been infected.

People travelling internationally are vaccinated.

43 people, to be exact,

Clickbait nonsense from people who don't understand science or math.

[muriel_volestrangler]

54. From (larger) UK data - 2 shots have little effect on mild disease from Omicron, but booster does

Having two doses of a Covid vaccine offers less defence against symptomatic infection from the Omicron variant than with Delta, experts have said, although a booster jab raises protection considerably.
...
However, a Pfizer/BioNTech booster jab, given after an initial round of either Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer, raised the level of protection, offering 70-75% protection against symptomatic infection.

The findings came as the UK reported 58,194 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday – the highest number of positive cases in a 24-hour period since 9 January – and 120 deaths. A total of 448 Omicron cases were also reported, compared with 249 on Thursday, with the total across the UK to date now standing at 1,265.
...
A similar trend was seen for those who have had two doses of the Pfizer jab, with about 60% protection against Delta at 25 or more weeks since the second dose, and just under 40% protection against Omicron at the same time point – although, again, there are uncertainties around the figures.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/10/two-jabs-give-less-protection-against-catching-omicron-than-delta-uk-data-shows

What this does show is the AstraZeneca vaccine does not offer much protection against Omicron infection - which isn't a problem for the USA, of course. Here in the UK, it's what I got, but the good news is that the Pfizer booster, which I'm due to get today, should be effective.

[Sancho]

56. For all we know 1000 or 10000 vaccinated were exposed...

...to get 34 tested positive, and 1 went to the hospital....

Anecdotal samples don’t really tell us much yet. All these early reports seem to indicate that Omicron is milder than Delta.

Still, it looks like we all may end up with an annual shot like the flu for Covid, and some years may be milder and some harsher versions.

[JT45242]

59. Anime super spreader required proof of vaccination

We know it was at an anime convention in NYC.

We know proof of vaccination was required to enter.

Most of the cases that have been discovered so far are related to that event.

Given global travel and the holidays it will quickly catch fire in the unvaccinated dry wood.

[Farmer-Rick]

62. I'm wondering how many are now pretending to be vaccinated.

Seems there is a healthy black market in fake vaccine records. They are selling for about $200 and the number of sellers is up to over 10,000. It's a growing criminal enterprise.

Just another crime made possible by TFG.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna2053

[malthaussen]

63. It's a very small sample pool.

And 60% of Americans are vaccinated as it is, which would be on statistical illusion if the sample were random.

Nevertheless, that is an 80% rate, which might raise eyebrows if the sample were larger and better controlled.

-- Mal

[LaMouffette]

64. I'm wondering about the level of antibodies in vaxxed people who got Omicron with mild symptoms.

Do they now have more immunity against Delta and Omicron? Of course, no one wants to give the virus more chances to mutate, but maybe a variant with mild symptoms that gives extra immunity is a sign of hope for Covid becoming less lethal with time?

[Quixote1818]

66. This is because most Americans are vaccinated. So more targets.

But if people aren't getting that sick then who cares?

[KentuckyWoman]

68. How many vaxxed Omicron positives are having to be hospitalized or buried?

It is probably too soon for those stats but that's the number you want.

Vax people get the Delta a lot too. They just don't tend to end up in a bad way.

[questionseverything]

70. Post 18 has the cdc link but

One person that was vaccinated was hospitalized for two days and released

I didn’t find if that person was older or had underlying conditions

[Tommymac]

71. A sample size of 43..you gotta be kidding...fearmongering again by the M$M

Jesus I am so sick of journalists and editors who only want to sell papers and ads.

And M$M owners who want the whole world to be authoritarian.

Yes - we need to be wary - but the headline is VERY misleading. No way one can tell anything with only 43 sample cases.

[mahina]

85. Dec 10

😢