COVID-19 News and Discussions

[andmar74]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... mage-lungs

Six research groups’ findings all suggest variant multiplies more in throats and causes less serious disease

[erowind]

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[wjfox]

[Xyls]

/\ Some questions I'd have.

How much less deadly overall? 10-20% less deadly than delta? If so that wouldn't be saying much. Is it less deadly than any other strain of covid? That would be wonderful. What about long-covid?

Is omicrons effectiveness being hampered by the vaccine? What if the vaccine causes a more concentrated immune response in the lungs as I've also seen suggested elsewhere and it is only marginally less deadly in unvaccinated populations? If omicron is less deadly why are pediatric hospitalization rates rising so much? If it was just due to greater infectiousness and lack of vaccination in the youngest age brackets, but omicron were truly less deadly, how much would we expect hospitalizations to rise in this age group? Is the transmissibility alone enough to account for that? Maybe vaccination rates, not lessened severity is the reason that hospitalizations in certain age groups are less overall?

I would love for always of these questions to be answered by researchers in a way that shows omicron truly is significantly less deadly, but I remain highly skeptical.

Omicron appears to be about 1/3 as deadly as Delta, and about 8 times more contagious based on aggregate research I've seen. Again it is unclear how much vaccination is skewing this. The US will probably be the best test case as they have a large vaccinated and unvaccinated (control) population. Based on the numbers it still does appear that Omicron is also less dangerous for the unvaccinated than Delta is. That however does not mean it isn't dangerous as almost all people Omicron sends to the hospital are also unvaccinated.

One thought with the pediatric hospitalizations (and it appears Omicron is more severe in this age group and less so in the older groups over all as it has a more balanced risk curve with age) is that it has adapted some common cold mutations, and since older people are more likely to have some resistance to those kinds of mutations it lowers the severity. Whereas with younger people they don't have this immunity making it easier for the virus to be much more severe for this age group.

Again all this is about death rates and hospitalizations specifically. The real question about Omicron in my mind is the risk of long COVID if you are vaccinated. I have not seen any clear answers about this.

[andmar74]

I would love for always of these questions to be answered by researchers in a way that shows omicron truly is significantly less deadly, but I remain highly skeptical.

Just look at the number of patients in ICU with omicron, and the number of deaths. In my country, there's almost no patients with omicron in ICU.

[raklian]

The importance of knowing the difference between rapid antigen and PCR tests.

[raklian]

Omicron appears to be about 1/3 as deadly as Delta, and about 8 times more contagious based on aggregate research I've seen.

I would love to see the citation(s) that support this statement in case others are skeptical when I tell them about it.

[wjfox]

All tests are free in the UK.

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[Xyls]

[Xyls]

Omicron appears to be about 1/3 as deadly as Delta, and about 8 times more contagious based on aggregate research I've seen.

I would love to see the citation(s) that support this statement in case others are skeptical when I tell them about it.

Hi Raklian, I'm just averaging. Most reports I see about Omicron go anywhere from 30% less severe all the way to 70%. This study from Ontario is about 56% less severe on hospitalizations and deaths, compared to Delta. Probably best to look for stuff close to your area to see what it is, as it is most likely to reflect your local risk level.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8480200/omic ... rio-study/

[raklian]

Omicron appears to be about 1/3 as deadly as Delta, and about 8 times more contagious based on aggregate research I've seen.

I would love to see the citation(s) that support this statement in case others are skeptical when I tell them about it.

Hi Raklian, I'm just averaging. Most reports I see about Omicron go anywhere from 30% less severe all the way to 70%. This study from Ontario is about 56% less severe on hospitalizations and deaths, compared to Delta. Probably best to look for stuff close to your area to see what it is, as it is most likely to reflect your local risk level.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8480200/omic ... rio-study/

Ok, thanks. Another important factor at play we can't ignore when comparing the severity between the strains is long Covid. Dr. Fauci just stated there is no evidence to show Omicron is significantly different from Delta when it comes to recovery outcomes especially with lingering symptoms, sometimes very severe even in mild cases, for a long period of time.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[raklian]

Covid leads to a viral sepsis in many patients.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Xyls]

Lol the Mario Meme on this post: