People waiting to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Marseille. The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected in mainland France on Thursday.Credit...Daniel Cole/Associated Press
The French authorities confirmed the first cases of the Omicron version of the coronavirus in mainland France on Thursday, but their alarm remained focused on a surge of infections fueled by the Delta variant.
France reported nearly 50,000 new cases of the virus in 24 hours on Wednesday, the highest daily total since the spring. The number of reported cases per 100,000 people has soared from less than 100 to more than 300 over the past month.
We need to anticipate there are still a lot of uncertainties, Jean-Franois Delfraissy, the head of the French governments Covid-19 scientific advisory council, told BFMTV on Thursday, referring to Omicron. But lets not fight the wrong fight. The real fight, the real enemy, is the fifth wave with the Delta variant.
The surge has alarmed French authorities, even though they have so far ruled out a return to lockdowns or business closures. Mr. Delfraissy said that cold had pushed people indoors and that social distancing was no longer being scrupulously followed. The average number of new hospital admissions, including in intensive care, has also increased by roughly 40 percent over the past weeks, according to official statistics.
But hospitalizations are still below the peaks seen in previous waves, thanks to a vaccination rate of 75 percent of the entire population, and Mr. Delfraissy said that if people exercised renewed vigilance by avoiding gatherings, working from home when possible and wearing masks more often France could be spared the worst outcomes.
Christmas isnt in danger if we are all careful, he said.
Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
The French government, which recently made all adults eligible for booster shots, has steered clear of mandating vaccines, arguing that coercion would be counterproductive. Olivier Vran, the health minister, told reporters this week that a more powerful incentive was the national health pass, which is required to access museums, restaurants, cinemas and other public venues.
The announcement of two Omicron cases on Thursday in mainland France has added to concerns, even though scientists are still trying to understand the threat posed by the variant.
The health authority for the le-de-France region, which includes Paris, said that the Omicron variant had been found in a man in his 50s, who returned from Nigeria last week and tested positive for Covid-19 after disembarking from his flight, though he showed no symptoms. The man, who was not vaccinated, was isolating at home, officials said.
In eastern France, health authorities in the Grand-Est region said in a statement that Omicron had been detected in a woman in her 40s who returned from South Africa last week. The woman was vaccinated but experiencing symptoms, and has been isolating at home.
Previously, France had confirmed only one case of the Omicron variant, in the overseas department of Runion, in the Indian Ocean.
Uncertainty over how dangerous Omicron really is had prompted the French authorities to halt flights with 10 countries in southern Africa, where the variant was first detected. Flights will be allowed to resume starting this weekend, but with some restrictions on travelers still in place. France will also require all visitors arriving from outside the European Union to provide a negative coronavirus test result, regardless of their vaccination status.
The Minnesota patient, who has recovered, fell ill on Nov. 22, suggesting that the variant already had begun to circulate even before South African health authorities first announced its detection there.
This case, you know, was getting ill even before we were hearing about Omicron from South Africa, Kris Ehresmann, infectious disease director for the Minnesota Department of Health, told reporters on Thursday.
Omicron carries more than 50 genetic mutations that in theory may make it both more contagious and less vulnerable to the bodys immune defenses than previous variants. Available vaccines may still offer substantial protection against severe illness and death following infection with the variant, but much remains unknown.
Most of the mutations are on the viruss spike protein, which the existing vaccines target. Federal officials are asking vaccinated people to get booster shots and the makers of the two most effective vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are preparing to reformulate their shots, if needed.
But it remains unclear whether Omicron will change the anti-coronavirus playbook. If the new variant turns out to be more transmissible than, say, the Delta variant, officials said, health guidance may stiffen more vigilance about masking indoors, sterner requirements for boosters.
Its worth re-asking the question, Ive started to get a little less careful than I was is that the right thing? said Dr. Bob Wachter, a professor and chair of the department of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. If, psychologically, you need a month to get prepared to move backwards, you should get ready for the possibility.
Dec. 3, 2021, 3:07 p.m. ET
That could be tough. The options government officials have to control the spread of the virus have proved to be politically limited in this country, even where communities have been open to restrictions. Californias health measures saved countless lives, for instance, but also helped fuel a recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom this year.
The total number of recorded COVID-19 deaths has passed 5 million globally, with over 750,000 deaths in the United States alone. However, these figures are unlikely to reveal the true impact of COVID-19 on the population.
Scientists have now shown an increased risk of death among COVID-19 survivors 12 months after the infection.
For people younger than 65 who were hospitalized with COVID-19, the risk of death in the 12 months after the infection was 233% higher than it was for people who did not have the disease, results published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine have shown.
Nearly 80% of all deaths of people in the study who had recovered from COVID-19 in the past 12 months were not due to cardiovascular or respiratory causes, suggesting that the impact of the virus is significant and wide-ranging, even after the initial infection has been fought off.
Prof. Arch Mainous, an author of the paper, told Medical News Today in an email: A lot of interest in the scientific community has focused on what happens to patients after having an episode with COVID-19. Some people are focusing on long COVID or persistent symptoms like brain fog or lack of smell. We were interested in the hard outcome of death after COVID-19 recovery.
We thought that the impact of COVID-19 would be significant enough to engender complications. The overall trauma or psychological insult to the body would be dramatic enough to create lasting damage.
To measure the impact of COVID-19 on long-term health, researchers from the University of Florida looked at electronic healthcare records from patients tested for COVID-19 in any setting in the University of Florida health system, both in Gainesville and Jacksonville. People who died within 30 days of their COVID-19 tests were excluded from the analysis.
Out of 13,638 people tested for COVID-19 between January 1 and June 30, 2020, 424 people were found to have COVID-19. Of this number, 178 people were classified as having severe disease. The rest were negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.
The researchers then evaluated the electronic healthcare records of these people, following them for 365 days after the first PCR test. They found that 2,686 people in the cohort had died.
The team then analyzed the healthcare records to determine cause of death and compared the risk of death for people who had had COVID-19 with that of people who had not tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
They found that the vast majority of deaths among people who had had COVID-19, nearly 4 out of 5 of these deaths, were not due to cardiovascular or respiratory illness, despite much existing research into the impact of COVID-19 on these systems.
Prof. Mainous said, Treatment in the hospital is [fine for surviving] the initial episode, but our strategy should focus on keeping people out of the hospital in the first place.
Taking your chances that you might get COVID-19 but that it will be mild, or that you will just rely on treatments to pull you through a severe episode is a course of action with big risks.
These figures demonstrate that the impact of COVID-19 could last longer than we had originally anticipated. However, they do not tell us why.
Prof. Mainous continued, Although there are a variety of theories floating around about why there are post-acute complications from COVID-19, and more work needs to be done to establish definitively the mechanism, it seems likely that the intense level of inflammation in the body affects multiple parts of the body.
Children were not included in this study, but Sammie Mcfarland, founder and CEO of Long Covid Kids, told MNT in an interview that the study shed some light on a topic that should get more attention and that we still do not understand the long-term impact of COVID-19 on children.
In the United Kingdom, she said, We dont know if the children coming out of hospital go on to recover, go on to die, or go on to get long COVID, we just dont know.
She also pointed out that while cases of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare complication that can occur in children with COVID-19, have been recorded, we do not know what has happened to many of these kids.
Mcfarland told us: Those children are living now with some severe impairment, and some of them have died. And those children arent recorded as COVID deaths. And theyre not recorded in the COVID data. But its still from COVID.
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) There were 512 new total COVID-19 cases reported on Friday, bringing the states total case count to 168,271, up from Thursday (167,759).
While the difference in the total case count reported Friday and Thursday equals 512, when you add the PCR, or newly confirmed, cases (395) and antigen, or new probable, cases (118), there were 513 new cases.
The number of active cases reported on Friday is at 7,572, up from Thursday (7,416).
There were two new deaths reported, bringing the total to 2,357. The two new deaths reported were two men in the 50-59 and 70-79 age range from Brown and Brule Counties.
Current hospitalizations are at 247, down from Thursday (248). Total hospitalizations are at 8,523, up from Thursday (8,490).
Total recovered cases are now at 158,342, up from Thursday (157,988).
The DOH currently reports total tests each day. There have been 1,726,609 total tests reported as of Friday, up 5,463 from 1,721,146 total tests reported on Thursday.
The latest seven-day PCR test positivity rate for the state is 16.4% for Nov. 25 Dec. 1.
Of South Dakotas 66 counties, 60 are listed as having high or substantial community spread. High community spread is 100 cases or greater per 100,000 or a 10% or greater PCR test positivity rate.
There have been 1,084 Delta variant cases (B.1.617.2, AY.1-AY.25) detected in South Dakota through sentinel monitoring.
There have been 176 cases of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant), 3 cases of P.1. (Gamma variant) and 2 cases of the B.1.351 (Beta variant).
The DOH announced changes to how it reports vaccinations on the COVID-19 dashboard as of Monday, October 14. It now includes a breakout of how many people have received booster doses. Due to data clean-up efforts, the percentages of people whove received one dose or completed the series have changed. Findthe DOH explanation in this story.
On Wednesday, November 24, the South Dakota Department of Health updated how it reports the percent of the population getting vaccinated. To align with the vaccine-eligible population, the Department of Health is including children who are 5-11 years old. The state says there was a decrease of 7% from the 12+ year old population.
As of Friday, 65.06% the population 5-years-old and above has received at least one dose while 53.89% have completed the vaccination series. 16.39% of those eligible have completed their booster dose.
There have been 570,909 doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered, 410,946 of the Moderna vaccine and 33,992 doses of the Janssen vaccine.
There have been 167,433 persons who have completed two doses of Moderna. There have been 232,241 persons who have received two doses of Pfizer.
As for booster doses, 71,617 people have received a 3rd Pfizer shot, 54,818 have received a 3rd Moderna dose and 1,475 have received a Janssen booster.
New COVID variant hits US, 'omicron' strain found in California
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the coronavirus variant omicron is present in California.
STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY
At a Friday news conference, Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans to get their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, saying the booster dose increases "the number of neutralizing antibodies against all the variants."
While there are many unanswered questions about omicronhealth officials will know more about the transmission and severity of the variant in the next few weeks, said Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser.
Meanwhile,"CDC is providing support to enhance and streamline genomic sequencing nationally, and is expanding surveillance of international travelers," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
But while the world is focused on omicron, Walensky said"we should remember that 99.9% of cases in the country right now are from delta." She added that measures used to counter the delta variant, including vaccinations, mask wearing, social distancing and increased testing, will also be effective in curbing the spread of the omicron variant.
"Our recommendations for protecting against COVID remain the same regardless of the variant," she said.
World Health Organization officials echoed this sentiment ata Friday news conference from the Philippines.
"The positive news in all of this is that none of the information we have currently about omicron suggests we need to change the directions of our response," saidDr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific.
"But every country and every community must prepare for new surges in cases, Kasai added.
What are omicron variant symptoms?Everything to know about the latest coronavirus strain
Understanding omicron: How the latest coronavirus variant, now in the US, is mutating and spreading
Also in the news:
As the emergence of omicron raises concerns over the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in February,Zhao Weidong, spokesperson for the organizing committee, told reporters at a Friday news conferencethatOlympic participants will live and compete in a bubblewhileonly Chinese residents who have been both vaccinated and tested will be allowed at venues.
Oklahoma'sattorney generalsuedthe Biden administration Thursday over a requirement that all National Guardmembers receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been cleared from the NBAs healthy and safety protocols and will be available to play in Fridays game against the Los Angeles Clippers, the league announced.
Workers covered by existing COVID-19 vaccine mandates in New Mexico will be required to get booster shots as well, beginning in January.The state Department of Healthamended its public health order requiring workers at schools, hospitals and congregate care facilities and the governor's office to be vaccinated, adding the additional dose to existing requirements.
Today's numbers:The U.S. has recorded more than 48 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 785,000deaths,accordingtoJohns Hopkins Universitydata. Global totals: More than 264 million cases and 5.2 million deaths. More than 197 million Americansroughly 59.6% of the populationare fully vaccinated,according to theCDC.
What we're reading:The threat of omicron is underscoring the importance of vaccination and boosters against COVID-19, especially for people of color who have disproportionately suffered during the pandemic.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more?Sign up forUSA TODAY's Coronavirus Watch free newsletterto receive updates directly to your inboxandjoin ourFacebook group.
The first known case of the omicronvariant was detected in the U.S. on Wednesday, in San Francisco, California. Since then, the heavily mutated variant has been identified in at least five other U.S. states.
By Thursday, another omicron case was confirmed in California in a Los Angeles County resident who likely contracted the virus during a trip to South Africa last month, according to the county's public health department. At least five people in the New York City metropolitan area were infected with the omicron variant, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a Thursday news conference.
A man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November was also infected with the variant, she added.
"Let me be clear: This is not cause for alarm. We knew this variant was coming and we have the tools to stop the spread,''Hochul said on Twitter.
"Get your vaccine. Get your booster. Wear your mask.''
Officials reported another case in a Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa. The variant was also confirmed in an unvaccinated Hawaii resident with no recent travel history, state health officials said.
Friday, Nebraska health officials confirmedsix people tested positive for the omicron variant. One of the individuals likely contracted the virus while traveling to Nigeria, and the other five were in the same household as the first case, officials said. Only one of them was vaccinated.
Global vaccine equity: Omicron isn't a surprise to advocates who have fought for global vaccine equity
South Africa has seen a "steep rise in infections" in the past seven days,South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at a Friday news conference, adding that theover 2,500 new cases last Thursday when the omicron variant was first detected has jumped to over 11,500 this Thursday. All districts are seeing increases in cases with rapid increases and hospitalizations in Gauteng, a province innortheastern South Africa.
"While we are still dealing with few days and limited data, indications are that this variant is indeed highly transmissible,"Phaahla said.
While there have been infections of vaccinated people, Phaahla said most of these cases have only led to mild illness and the majority of hospitalizations have been among unvaccinated young people below age 40. The country is also seeing increased hospital admissions of children under age 4, highlighting the need to include pediatric beds and staff in preparations for surging cases.
The omicron variant has also been spreading to older age groups, saidDr. Michelle Groome from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. She added that early evidence indicates this variant is more transmissible than others and that there is a "degree of immune escape," meaning the variant'sability to resist an immune response from prior infections or from vaccines.
US COVID-19 map: Tracking cases and deaths
Both chambers of Congress passed a billThursday to fund the government through Feb. 18, narrowlyavoiding a government shutdownbefore a Friday deadline.
A group of Republican senators nearly forced a shutdown after they threatened to delay passage of the bill in the upper chamber. Theywanted languagepreventingthe use of federal money to carry out a Biden administration mandate on workplace vaccinations, but the amendment to do that failed 48-50.
Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who introduced the amendment along with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the president's order will displace a significant number of workers.
"This is about jobs in Kansas. It's about jobs in Texas, in Utah, across the nation," he told reporters on Capitol Hill before the vote. "An unconstitutional federal vaccine mandate'sgoing to lead to an economic shutdown, jobs lost back home."
Biden announced last montha policythat large businesses those with 100 or more employees require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19or be regularly tested.Noncompliant businesses couldfacepenalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. Therequirement is currently on hold due to several lawsuits.
"I am glad that in the end cooler heads prevailed," SenateMajority Leader Chuck Schumersaid of thevote to keep the government open. "The government will stay open."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urgedthe 53,000 people who attended a November anime convention in New York City to get tested for COVID-19 immediately after an attendee from Minnesota tested positive for the omicron variant. She said health officials will be in contact with attendees.
"This is not cause for alarm," she said at a Thursday news conference."It was foreseen ever since it was first reported out of South Africa, that we knew it would come to New York State at some point."
Anime NYC, which required vaccinations and masks for the conference, according to its website, confirmed on Twitter that one of its attendees tested positive and said organizers are working with health agencies to email and call attendees to notify them of the confirmed case.
"You are strongly advised to get tested," the organization said, adding that the attendee was vaccinated and developed mild symptoms.
Study: Patients have greater risk of death after recovery from severe COVID-19
Patients who have recovered from severe COVID-19 have more than three times the mortality risk within the year following their illness than people who have not contracted the virus, according to a recent study by University of Florida researchers.
An earlier study by UF researchers,published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, foundpatients who had a severe case of the disease were more than twice as likely to need rehospitalization for COVID-19 complications, which underscores the serious effects the virus can have on the body.
The risk for those younger than 65 who had severe cases is higher than for those older than 65. But patients who had mild or moderate COVID-19 were not found to be at increased risk of death compared to those who did not contract the disease.
These findings reinforce that the internal trauma of being sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 has a big consequence for peoples health. This is a huge complication of COVID-19 that has not been shown before, saidArch G. Mainous III,the studys lead investigator.
Jill Pease, UF Health
Contributing: The Associated Press
Pedestrians wearing face masks against the coronavirus walk along Regent Street in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The emergence of the new COVID-19 omicron variant and the worlds desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines.
Rice University researchers have been leading a project, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of mapping out mutations of the coronavirus. Most recently, they've been focusing their efforts on the omicron variant, which was classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization last week.
The first cases of the variant in the United States were identified this week.
Gene Godbold, a scientist with Austin-based contractor Signature Science who has compiled a list of omicron's mutations, spoke with Houston Public Media about what the research says about the new variant.
Listen or read the interview below, edited for length and clarity.
Looking at the mutations of this variant, do any of them raise alarm bells? And are any associated with higher risk of transmission or the ability to evade the protection we get from vaccines?
Thats a deep kind of question. Its not just one thing. So theres almost 1,300 residues in the spike protein. And a lot of them, if they change to something else, might not have any effect at all. But compared to the Wuhan strain, the ancestral string, this has got like 30 amino acid changes and then a couple of deletions and insertions in areas that youd want to care about.
OK, so we can break it down. We can talk about transmission first.
Theres good reason to believe that the mutations make this more transmissible. Before delta, alpha was the most transmissible variant. And (omicrons) got the same mutations as alpha does, plus its got some other concerning ones.
Obviously, the reason were talking about is because we know its already spreading. The proof is in the pudding already. So we know that the virus is a problem, and it seems to be spreading in the face of all the other variants.
Given the mutations that the science community knows and understands already, is it possible that this variant could evade protection the vaccines give to us?
Basically, the takeaway message is that the omicron variant has more immune evasive mutations than anything weve seen yet. And it may have even more than that because its got new ones that nobody studied yet. So the question of whether it evades the vaccines? It probably doesnt. I mean, it probably isnt going to evade a normal person with a normal immune system. And why is this? Like a normal immune response, you can generate dozens of different types of neutralizing antibodies. I think the most immune invasive variant so far has knocked out like six of those neutralizing antibodies.
I cant guarantee it, but it looks like Omicron is going to wipe out a lot more than six. That doesnt mean that you dont have any defense, because obviously neutralizing antibodies arent the whole thing, but neutralizing antibodies are really important to prevent transmission and colonization. So its probably going to be more likely to get a foothold into people, is what Im betting on. Even people who are vaccinated and boosted are probably still gonna be able to get this more than the other variants.
Now, theres no way to tell how this is going to work out in terms of what kind of sickness they get. It may be mild, it may be just a cold for the people that are vaccinated. Were going to have to see how that works.
You mentioned the possibility of more breakthrough infections for people that are vaccinated. And you kind of touched on people with normal immune systems. Do you have any sense in how this might play out in someone who is immunocompromised?
Theres a variety of ways a person can be immunocompromised. Actually there's like five ways that you could be compromised. Each one is going to be different, so it would be hard to generalize about something like that. But in general, it would not be good. I mean, that this is like common sense, but basically, if you're immunocompromised, you want to avoid going out. Sorry, thats lame, but that's true.
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Americans, already weary of a nearly two-years-long pandemic, were dealt a new blow during the long Thanksgiving weekend with the announcement that a new coronavirus variant had emerged.
The omicron variant, officially known as B.1.1.529, first surfaced in November in several southern African nations. The new variant set off alarm bells worldwide when public health officials in South Africa saw it beginning to outcompete the previous reigning variant, delta. This suggested that omicron could eventually spread widely. Indeed, omicron has since been reported on multiple continents, likely due to international travel by people who were unknowingly infected.
After the emergence of omicron was announced, several nations imposed travel bans in an effort to contain the virus. But its unclear how effective those bans will be in slowing the spread. Travel bans dont help once the horse is already out of the barn, as weve seen before and are seeing now, said Tara Smith, a Kent State University epidemiologist.
Scientists caution that its still too early to say whether omicron will prove to be as dangerous as delta. Other variants that initially seemed worrisome have flamed out.
For now, heres what we know, and dont know, about the omicron variant.
What is a variant?
A variant of a virus is one that has mutated in a way that bolsters its spread or severity compared with the original strain that emerged in Wuhan, China. RNA viruses like the coronavirus can mutate when they replicate, especially when circulating at high rates, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco.
Coronavirusesdo not mutate as readilyas influenza viruses do, but they do mutate over time. The different variants generally produce the same range of symptoms as the original strain of the coronavirus. But the mutations may help the virus spread more effectively from person to person, or have an advantage in sneaking past either natural or vaccine immunity.
What variants were already circulating in the United States?
To date, public health officialshave notedfive variants of concern, plus two other variants of interest that are not yet considered as worrisome as the variants of concern. Theres also the most worrisome of the three official categories variants of high consequence but no variants of this type have emerged so far.
The World Health Organization decided earlier this year to to name the variants after Greek letters, both to simplify discussion and to limit the stigma from having a variant named for a country.
The first four variants of concern alpha, beta, gamma, and delta have been circulating in the United States for most of this year. But for much of 2021, the most dominant variant has been delta, due to its ability to spread from person to person more quickly than other variants. For months, delta hasaccounted formore than 99% of coronavirus infections in the U.S.
There were no confirmed cases of omicron in the United States as of mid-day Nov. 29, but experts say its just a matter of time. It could be in the U.S. already, though as yet undetected.
How did omicron emerge?
Scientists arent sure precisely where omicron first surfaced, but it was most likely in southern Africa, where it was first detected.
Experts say that low vaccination rates in that part of the world probably played a role in creating a favorable environment for the mutations that produced omicron. (It can bepronouncedeither AH-mi-crahn or OH-mi-crahn.)
Many countries in Africa have populations with very low immunity about 30% in South Africa are vaccinated, Smith said. In a largely non-immune population, the virus can sweep through, and each new person infected is a chance for the virus to mutate.
Why did public health officials react so urgently to omicron?
The concern stems from the scope and nature of the mutations on the new variant. South African health officials noted 50 notable mutations, 30 of which are on the spike protein, a key structure in the virus,New York magazine reported. Thats more than previous variants have had.
If we were looking out for mutations that do affect transmissibility, its got all of them, University of Oxford evolutionary biologistAris Katzourakis told Science magazine.
Still, whats uncertain at this point is how effectively those mutations will work together in creating a variant that can consistently outcompete delta.
What do we know about omicrons degree of infectiousness?
The omicron variant is so new that scientists are just beginning to learn about its characteristics. Because of this, experts urge caution in drawing conclusions, especially from anecdotal evidence.
That said, scientists say they would not be shocked if omicron becomes as easily transmissible as delta.
The answer is uncertain, of course, but it looks as though it will be at least as infectious as delta, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
One complicating factor, Schaffner said, is that the initial areas of fastest spread have been in areas of Johannesburg populated by young adults and college students, who tend to have lower vaccination rates. The vulnerability of these groups to infection may be exaggerating how rapidly omicron seems to be spreading.
What do we know about whether omicron makes patients sicker?
The early evidence is somewhat conflicting, but there are signs that symptoms from omicron may not be more severe than previous variants. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, has said that the early cases being seen among theunvaccinated are mild.
It remains to be seen, however, whether older and unhealthier patients will also see milder symptoms. Another caveat is that it may be too early in omicrons spread to see cases that have progressed to a more serious point.
What do we know about whether existing vaccines will be effective against the omicron variant?
Scientists are cautiously optimistic that existing vaccines will also be effective against omicron, just as they have been against delta, at least in being able to prevent illness severe enough to require hospitalization.
Scientists in South Africa and Israel, where the variant has also been detected, have indicated thatthey are not seeing severe disease among the vaccinated, Gandhi said.
Gandhi added that the immunity-providing B-cells produced by the vaccineshave been shown to produce antibodies against variants, and that T-cell immunity, which protects against severe disease,is robustand should not be at risk from the mutations being seen in omicron. The vaccines also producepolyclonal antibodiesthat work against multiple parts of the spike protein, she said. Finally, booster shots now being administered have been shown to be effective in strengthening immunity quickly.
Most scientists believe we should still have protection against severe disease with vaccinations, and vaccination remains the mainstay of control, Gandhi said.
Bottom line: If you havent been vaccinated, and especially if you havent had the disease yet, get vaccinated. And if youve already been vaccinated, get a booster.
How long will it be before we have a better handle on the threat from omicron?
Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson areall testing the effectiveness of their existing vaccines against omicronin the lab, based on variant-analysis protocols developed early in 2021. Those results should be available in the next week or two.
Some of the other questions including whether omicron makes you sicker, and whether its more transmissible will take longer to answer because they require careful contact tracing and accurate diagnoses of those infected.
To better answer those questions, Smith said, I think at a minimum, it will take a month to get some preliminary data, and quite possibly longer to really know the fuller picture. We also wont know about real-world experience in vaccine breakthroughs until that time.
Can we expect a specific new booster to be developed for omicron?
Its not at all certain that the omicron variant will require a reformulated booster. A newly formulated booster wasnt necessary for delta, because researchers determined that the existing formulation was still effective.
That said, vaccine makers can jump in with a new booster quickly if they have to.
In the event that vaccine-escape variant emerges, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to be able to develop and produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, subject to regulatory approval, a Pfizer spokespersontold the Washington Post.
Dr. Matthew Laurens, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said hes confident boosters could be developed and tested quickly if needed, likely within a few months.
What happened to the other variants?
Between May 2021, when delta was named a variant of concern, and November 2021, when omicron was given the same label, two other variants were elevated to the lower variant of interest status: lambda from Peru and mu from Colombia. Other variants, such as one discovered in Nepal called delta-plus, attracted notice during that period as well. But none of these managed to outcompete delta in a consistent way, so they were never elevated to variant of concern.
This is the most hopeful outcome for omicron. The other variants all had similar concerns around them, but they didnt expand to any significant degree after the initial reporting, Gandhi said.
Is it reasonable to think the U.S. is in a better position to handle omicron than it was for delta?
Experts generally agreed that the United States should be better prepared to battle omicron than it was when delta emerged earlier this year.
We are in a much better position, since we have higher rates of vaccination, the availability of boosters for everyone over 18, and vaccine eligibility down to 5 years old, Gandhi said. We also have higher rates of natural immunity in this country due to the delta variants spread since July 2021. And we haveoral antiviral therapeuticson the horizon. So we have the tools to fight this new variant.
The challenge, Schaffner said, will be to make sure that Americans continue to get vaccinated and boosted, and to make use of testing and maintain safe behavior in public.
All these tools are available, he said. The big question is how inclined the general public is to use these tools.
Is the coronavirus going to be around permanently, like the flu?
Experts now believe its unlikely that the coronavirus will either be eradicated from the globe, like smallpox has been, or even eliminated in the United States, as polio was following near-universal vaccination. The combination of rapid mutations and too-low vaccination rates make it likely that COVID-19 wont follow smallpox and polio into submission.
This will more likely be the influenza model, where we have to track mutations annually and alter the boosters accordingly, Schaffner said. In fact, he said, efforts to create combined coronavirus-flu shots are already under way.
USA Today, Omicron, the newest coronavirus variant: How to pronounce it, how it got its Greek name, and what it means, Nov. 29, 2021
New York magazine, What We Do and Dont Know About the Omicron Variant, Nov. 29, 2021
Washington Post, What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus, updated Nov. 29, 2021
The Atlantic, We Know Almost Nothing About the Omicron Variant, Nov. 27, 2021
The Atlantic, The New COVID Drugs Are a Bigger Deal Than People Realize, Nov. 29, 2021
Reuters, Explainer: How worried should we be about the Omicron variant? Nov. 27, 2021
Science magazine, Patience is crucial: Why we wont know for weeks how dangerous Omicron is, Nov. 27, 2021
Science magazine,mRNA vaccines induce durable immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern, Oct. 14, 2021
Cell Host & Microbe, SARS-CoV-2 human T cell epitopes: Adaptive immune response against COVID-19, July 14, 2021
Immunity, A vaccine-induced public antibody protects against SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants, Sept. 14, 2021
The Telegraph, South African doctor who raised alarm about omicron variant says symptoms are unusual but mild, Nov. 27, 2021
Times of Israel, S. African expert downplays threat from Omicron: We wont have a severe epidemic, Nov. 26, 2021
PolitiFact, The coronavirus variants: What you need to know, July 7, 2021
Email interview with Matthew Laurens, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Nov. 29, 2021
Email interview with Tara Smith, Kent State University epidemiologist. Nov. 29, 2021
Email interview with Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, Nov. 29, 2021
Interview with William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nov. 29, 2021
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(WJW) Theres sobering news as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
The highest concentration of people in the hospital with COVID-19, across the state, is right here in Northeast Ohio.
The last time more Ohioans were treated in the hospital for COVID-19 was all the way back on January 12, when 4,000 patients were hospitalized across the state, said Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.
The director says the majority of the people in the hospital, including the ICU, are people who are unvaccinated.
While someone whos fully vaccinated may, in some instances, still catch COVID-19, they are far more likely to be able to weather that case at home, rather than ending up in a hospital or on a ventilator or in the obituary pages, said Dr. Vanderhoff during a Thursday afternoon virtual news conference.
Overall, were approaching the highest number of COVID patients that weve treated across the health system throughout the whole pandemic, said Dr. Dan Simon, president of academic and external affairs and chief scientific officer at University Hospitals.
He says the hospitals in the system are at more than 95% capacity, filled with both COVID and non-COVID related patients.
About 20% of intensive care unit patients across the health system now have COVID and in some of our community medical centers, 50% of the patients in the hospital have COVID, said Dr. Simon.
He says the prolonged pandemic and recent surge is putting a strain on staff. Some are simply stressed out, while others are dealing with COVID themselves and that sometimes means fewer people to care for patients.
Dr. Simon says more than 90% of patients being treated in the ICU at UH are unvaccinated.
We are seeing an increased number of vaccinated individuals with breakthrough who are being admitted to the regular floors with mild to moderate disease. These typically are individuals who are high-risk over 65, heart disease, lung disease, cancer or immuno-suppressed, Dr. Simon said.
Dr. Simon says the positive test rate a UH this week has been 17%, but despite shrinking hospital capacity, they have a plan if things get worse.
To allow us to go from 1,700 beds across the health system, to over 5,100, he said.
He believes after Thanksgiving travel and holiday gatherings, the number of COVID cases will probably go up.
We dont peak here for another two weeks plus, so the worst is yet to come, said Dr. Simon.
Ohio lags way behind much of the country in vaccinations with only 58% of Ohioans who have gotten the shot.
Dr. Simon says he believes part of the latest surge is because its getting cold and people are spending more time indoors.
Health experts still urge people to get vaccinated. If youre already vaccinated, get a booster and continue to wear masks and social distance if youre in large congregant settings, especially with people you dont know.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) The Ohio Department of Health releasedthe latest number of COVID-19 casesin the state.
As of Thursday, Dec. 2, ODH reports a total of 1,708,292 (+9,131) cases, leading to 87,244 (+366) hospitalizations and 10,848 (+41) admissions into the ICU. The state reported Thursday 58.02% of the states population 6,782,133 Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccination process, an increase of 10,935 from the previous day.
ODH reported 104 deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 26,587. The state is updating the number only after death certificates have been processed, usually twice a week.
The 21-day case average now sits at more than 5,500.
ODH director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff and other Ohio health leaders gave an update on the current uptick of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. While Delta variant is still the primary COVID-19 variant in Ohio, Dr. Vanderhoff did discuss the new Omicron variant.
If the Omicron variant shows up in Ohio, well likely see it reasonably quickly in our states genetic sequencing data. said Dr. Vanderhoff. Much remains unknown at this point including whether its more transmissible or capable of causing more serious illness.
The first U.S. case of the Omicron variant was reported Wednesday in California.
Few if any teams in the NFL were hit as hard by the Coronavirus as the New England Patriots last year. While they luckily did not have any serious cases within their organization, their team still was impacted quite a bit.
Not only did a league-high eight of their players decide to opt out before the season including defensive cornerstones Donta Hightower and Patrick Chung the team also was challenged repeatedly during the years. One of their games had to be rescheduled, while core players such as quarterback Cam Newton or cornerback Stephon spent time on the newly created Covid-19 reserve list.
In total, 19 of New Englands players either opted out due to the Coronavirus or spent time on the Covid-19 list. In part due to the issues caused by the pandemic, the Patriots went just 7-9 for their first losing season in almost 20 years.
Fast forward one year and the situation as a whole is a much more comfortable one for the Patriots. The vaccine has helped limit the impact the virus has on the NFL season as a whole, while New England did not experience any opt-outs this time around.
That being said, the disruptive power of Covid-19 is still on full display, and the Patriots experienced it just this week: starting safety Kyle Dugger and reserve running back J.J. Taylor were sent to the reserve list within three days of each other.
Dugger and Taylor are not the first Patriots to miss time under the leagues Coronavirus protocols this year. Offensive linemen Isaiah Wynn and Michael Onwenu, for example, also had to be moved to Reserve/Covid-19 in October. Both had to miss their teams game against the Houston Texans as a result.
Over the summer, quarterback Cam Newton missed three training camp practices including one joint session with the New York Giants due to an apparent misunderstanding of protocols: Newton left Massachusetts for a club-approved medical appointment, becoming subject to the five-day reentry period for unvaccinated players.
Newtons absence allowed rookie Mac Jones to get an extended look with the starting unit. A few days later, the incumbent starter was released with Jones taking over as New Englands new QB1.
The Patriots coaching staff was also not immune to Coronavirus-related moves: co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich left the team over a disagreement about the leagues protocols and vaccination standards.
Now, Dugger and Taylor have become the latest Patriots confronted with the reality of pro football in a still ongoing pandemic.
Their respective returns will depend on their vaccination status all signs point towards Dugger being vaccinated, making a comeback before the teams Week 13 game against the Buffalo Bills at least theoretically possible but the fact remains: Covid-19 can still have a major impact on a team, even one with as high a vaccination rate as the Patriots.
