Data from all over the world suggests that this variant is mild and similar to the common cold.
QUICK FACTS:
- Omicron originated in South Africa.
- After studying the new variant, one of the country’s health ministers, Joe Phaala, released certain findings. “In the current wave, only 1.7% of Covid cases are being hospitalized, an average of fewer than 350 cases daily over the past two weeks, versus an average of more than 800 in the previous wave, at an average of 19%.”
- Phaala added that the large majority of Omicron hospitalizations are “fairly mild” in comparison to patients hospitalized by the Delta variant.
OMICRON SCIENCE, RHETORIC, AND POLICY DISCONNECT:
- The World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, cautions that, though the Omicron variant spreads quickly, it is no cause for panic.
- CDC Director Rochelle Walensky echoed Dr. Swaminathan, as did Dr. Angelique Coetzee, the South African who had discovered the variant.
- Though Omicron cases are “extremely mild,” Walensky and Dr. Anthony Fauci use the variant to push booster shots.
- Indeed, Fauci appears to consider the new variant a cause for fear.
- The disconnect between Omicron science, rhetoric, and policy is even more profound in the UK and parts of Europe, which have all but canceled Christmas.
BACKGROUND:
- In the United States, the variant is most common in heavily vaccinated states.
- Unvaccinated people account for only 20% of Omicron cases.
- A new study finds that the Omicron variant shares genetic code with the virus that causes the common cold.
