Omicron cases doubling at least every 3 days, WHO says

[Knight of the Middle]

Source: Al Jazeera

18 Dec 2021

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading significantly faster than the Delta strain in countries with documented community transmission, with the number of cases doubling in 1.5 to 3 days, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

In an update on Saturday, the United Nations’ health agency said Omicron has been reported in 89 countries. The highly mutated variant is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, the WHO said, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus’ ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both.

The agency designated Omicron a variant of concern on November 26, soon after it was first detected by scientists in South Africa, and much is still not known about it. Scientists remain uncertain how dangerous it is, but early data suggests it can be more resistant to vaccines and more transmissible than the Delta variant.

“There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron,” the WHO said in its update. “More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity.” It added, “There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron.”

On Friday, a non-peer reviewed study by Imperial College London said the risk of reinfection with Omicron is more than five times higher and it has shown no sign of being milder than Delta.



Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/omicron-cases-doubling-at-least-every-3-days-who-says

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I do believe the planet's getting serious.

[femmedem]

1. "no sign of being milder than Delta"

Shit.
I've been here since 2006 and I think that's the first time I've sworn on DU.

[getagrip_already]

3. after tfg, I can make a sailor cover their ears......

non-stop profanity from their side for four years sharpened my mind's tongue.

[femmedem]

20. LOL!

Huckin' filarious.

[Knight of the Middle]

27. Damn You!

I spit beer all over my keyboard upon reading that!

[NH Ethylene]

21. That is very, very bad news. n/t

[Strelnikov_]

23. 'No evidence' Omicron milder than Delta, British researchers say

This study is a real ray of sunshine. I'd feel better if the report was from Johnny's Disaster Blog.

Hopefully, the cautionary notes at the end regarding the study results pan out.


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/no-evidence-omicron-milder-than-delta-british-researchers-say

The non peer-reviewed research was based on UK Health Security Agency and National Health Service data on people who tested positive for COVID-19 in a PCR test in England between November 29 and December 11.

...

“We find no evidence (for both risk of hospitalisation attendance and symptom status) of Omicron having different severity from Delta,” the study said, although it added that data on hospitalisations remains very limited.

...

“Controlling for vaccine status, age, sex, ethnicity, asymptomatic status, region and specimen date, Omicron was associated with a 5.4-fold higher risk of reinfection compared with Delta,” the study, which was dated December 16, added.

...

Depending on the estimates used for vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection from the Delta variant, this translates into vaccine effectiveness of between 0 percent and 20 percent after two doses, and between 55 percent and 80 percent after a booster dose.

...

“There is a huge amount of uncertainty in these modelled estimates and we can only be confident about the impact of boosters against Omicron when we have another month of real-world data on hospitalisation ICU numbers and deaths,” he said.

[femmedem]

24. Yes, I hope it is just a case of too soon to say.

Thank you for pointing out the uncertainty. A little bit of hope.

[Texaswitchy]

2. The holidays will make it worse.

Get the booster and get your masks on.

[2naSalit]

4. I'm doing that and...

Staying home. I knew this would happen back in 2019, I knew I'd still be self isolating and wearing masks in public. I'm vaxxed to the max and still following protocol as if it were March of 2019.

[Texaswitchy]

5. Me to.

Nothing as changed but having a vaccine.

We have to ride it out.

More people will die.

[2naSalit]

7. The only difference...

In most cases, is choice to get vaxxed. Those who choose to abstain will eventually be gone, sooner than the rest of us.

[Texaswitchy]

8. The unvaxed will get sick or die.

They can only dodge the virus so long.

[2naSalit]

15. Yup.

[Texaswitchy]

17. To many think they are to young or healthy to get it.

Christmas gatherings will tell the tale.

[Skittles]

26. yes

fucking morons who think family gatherings are more important than public health

[Ford_Prefect]

6. There go my plans for a New Year's bash among close friends. All vaxxed up and nowhere to go!

Curse you DJT and all who sail in you, to the 3rd generation!

Same for your bosom pal Vlad too!

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Wow that's gonna rip. Could infect the whole planet in 45 days.

[Texaswitchy]

10. Yes

This version is fast.



The unvaxed will catch hell.


So many unmasked.

[Traildogbob]

11. I predict

A whole lot of damn dead people in Texas and Florida by February 1. FreeDumb wins. A lot of guns with no owners left.

[Texaswitchy]

14. I drove by a large mall yesterday and the parking lot was packed.

On a Friday morning.

Maybe half wearing masks and all three shots.

Nothing in the mall I want.

[Traildogbob]

16. Athletes are

Getting this in large numbers. Games being postponed, all those Bowl Games going on are Packed thick. Right wing media still pushing anti Vax/mask shit. Travel, shopping, very few masked, large percent unvaxxed, and Fox Noise. Perfect storm. Don’t think I am being alarmist, just looking at what is happening and it looks like start of 22, may make these last two hell years seem tame.
Not a promising view.

[Texaswitchy]

18. Yes

I see dead people.

Even people with the shots are not wearing masks.

Hospitals will not be able to handle the overflow.

Spanish flu all over again.

[flying_wahini]

12. I know of 3 people fully vaccinated * that are real sick with it.

One friend only had 2 vaccines. Not the booster.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Can you give us any more details

"real sick". And perhaps their ages. I know it's anecdotal and we can't universally generalize specific cases, but everyone begins to make plans with whatever data they can find

[NH Ethylene]

22. Do they know for certain it is Omicron?

'Cause good ole Delta is still here doing it's nasty thing too.

[Quakerfriend]

19. Yes, Omicron is moving at lightening speed.

My husband and I just spent a few days in Ocean City, NJ-
The place was pretty deserted.

On 12/16 we met up with family to eat at the Crab Trap - 7 of us all together, all fully vaxxed and boosted but one. I thought we would have the whole restaurant to ourselves.
Boy, was I wrong. The place was a mob scene- at least 300 people there & an hours wait for a table! It freaked us out! But, we were treating the gang- So, had to stay.
All servers and restaurant employees were 100% masked up.
The meal was superb but, we couldn’t wait to get out of there.

This am we got word that one of our cousins has tested positive after being at party with the whole family. He was vaxxed but not yet boosted. There are 60+ in the family including 11 under the age of 12. They were all there together. We will see how many catch it. 😢

All of the hospitals in my area (Philadelphia) are suddenly at ~91-105% capacity- not good.

[femmedem]

25. I hope you and your family will be ok.

No serious cases.

The cousin was at your family meal at the Crab Trap and you were exposed?

[twodogsbarking]

28. There are those in the medical community that say

everyone will get it.

[IronLionZion]

29. MAGA folks will make it great again

they go out of their way to get it and spread it for "natural immunity". So there may be fewer of them by November.