'I Have No Intention of Getting Infected': Understanding Omicron's Severity
- The Guardian, Jan. 17, 2022. - Ed. Experts on whether getting Covid is inevitable and why, despite claims of ‘mildness’, the variant is highly dangerous.
Leaders in the US have struck a pessimistic tone about the Covid-19 pandemic in recent weeks amid rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the US FDA, recently testified before Congress that “most people are going to get Covid”. Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to Joe Biden, has also said that Omicron “will ultimately find just about everybody” in terms of exposure, though vaccines make an important difference in who develops the illness.
But Covid-19 is still a very serious disease with unknown outcomes, even for the less severe Omicron variant.
Here top experts break down exactly why people should still try to avoid getting Covid-19 – especially in the next few weeks and months, as hospitals see unprecedented strain and effective early treatments are appearing on the horizon. - Am I just going to get Covid no matter what I do? “That’s not true,” said Paul Offit, a professor of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Phila. “I don’t plan on getting infected with Omicron. I’m vaccinated; because I’m over 65, I’m boosted. I wear a mask whenever I’m in public and indoors around people I don’t know. And I have no intentions of being infected with this virus.”
While the more transmissible Omicron variant is infecting more people than ever before, taking proven precautions can still prevent it: getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing high-quality masks, improving ventilation and avoiding crowds indoors. - Should I just get it and get it over with? Planning to get Omicron in order to gain some immunity or get it over with is a terrible idea, said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research. “This is a real-deal virus where there’s unpredictability,” he said. “Some people can get very sick. Some people can get long Covid. Some people unwittingly will then get immunocompromised people sick”, leading to hospitalization and death.
He added: “There’s too many liabilities, too many uncertainties & unpredictabilities when you get a virus with this known profile that can be very severe and lethal still.” And it’s not at all clear if recovering from Omicron would protect against future variants. If you’ve already gotten Omicron, it may have broadened your T-cell recognition & your B-cell memory & given you “a nice jolt of neutralizing antibodies”, Topol said. But “you can’t possibly make that assertion that Omicron will protect from the future”. - But isn’t Omicron mild? Definitely not a guarantee. It is still a deadly illness. Omicon is less severe than Delta – but Delta was itself more severe than previous variants. “It can still be severe,” ...
More, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/16/no-intention-of-getting-infected-understanding-omicrons-severity
= new reply since forum marked as read
They'll have to pry my mask (and Purell) from my cold, dead hands...