JustCare

Tag: Omicron

  • Coronavirus: BA.2, the next variant

    Coronavirus: BA.2, the next variant

    Brenda Goodman reports for CNN.com about the latest coronavirus variant, BA.2, which has already surfaced in multiple countries and 47 US states. Just at the point at which we are seeing a decline in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, BA.2 is rearing its ugly head. And, some experts believe that it’s uglier than the Omicron variant.

    BA.2 is both spreading more quickly than the Delta variant and likely to be causing more severe illness. Vaccines appear not to work well to combat it, though booster shots do protect people. The data suggest that people with booster shots are 74 percent less likely to be ill after being infected with the virus.

    What’s also concerning about BA.2 is that sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody which works against Omicron, does not appear to work against BA.2.

    The World Health Organization reports that BA.2 is 30 percent more contagious than Omicron. Still, hospitalization rates are significantly higher for people who are not vaccinated, particularly elderly Americans and immunocompromised individuals.

    BA.2 is not fully understood yet. In Denmark, where most people with Covid-19 have BA.2, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise. In other countries such as South Africa and the UK, where BA.2 has emerged, hospitalizations are declining.

    What can you do to protect yourself and those around you? Keep wearing a mask, preferably a K95 or KN95, even if it is not required, whenever you are in enclosed spaces with others.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Booster shots reduce risk of hospitalization

    Coronavirus: Booster shots reduce risk of hospitalization

    The New York Times reports on the value of Covid-19 booster shots in preventing hospitalization, particularly for people 50 and older. Still, everyone, including people who have had booster shots are best-off wearing N95 masks whenever indoors and around other people.

    The Centers for Disease Control just released new data showing that people with booster shots are much less likely to be hospitalized than people who are not vaccinated. Booster shots are also a good weapon against Covid-19 infection to begin with. But, vaccinated or not, you should not be going without a surgical mask, ideally an N95 mask, when around other people indoors.

    People over 50 who have not been vaccinated are 17 times more likely to be hospitalized than people who received two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. The risk of hospitalization for those unvaccinated is 2.5 times greater still than those who had received a booster shot. Unvaccinated adults between the ages of 50 and 64 have a 44 times greater likelihood of being hospitalized than people who had received the booster shot as well.

    Risk of hospitalization for the unvaccinated over 65 is even higher than for those under 65. People over 65 have a 49 times higher likelihood of hospitalization than people their age who had received a booster.

    Interestingly, getting Covid affords people more protection against the Delta virus than vaccinations, according to the CDC. The CDC has not yet determined the efficacy of booster shots against Omicron and whether getting Omicron delivers more protection than a booster shot.

    But, the CDC has now reported that wearing cloth masks offers far less protection than wearing a surgical mask. And, the Washington Post explains why the best mask to wear to protect yourself against Covid-19 is an N95. In short, it fits snugly to your skin around the edges and is made of a material that blocks the novel coronavirus particles from slipping through it with 95 percent efficacy.

    Everyone can reduce the risk of getting Covid by using an N95 or KN95 mask instead of a cloth mask. N95 masks are now widely available. If you are buying masks, choose those. The Biden administration is now giving out free masks through community health centers (sometimes called FQHCs) and through participating pharmacies, such as CVS and Walmart.  You can visit this CDC webpage to see how to ensure the mask you buy is not counterfeit.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: The future of Omicron

    Coronavirus: The future of Omicron

    Megan Molteni reports for StatNews on the future of Omicron. Sadly, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Omicron and its variants could be with us for longer than imaginable, and it could have particularly deadly consequences.

    Experts say that we could easily have six to eight more bad weeks of Omicron ahead of us. Around the world, one group of experts predict three billion new cases by the end of February. People in low-income countries will be at greatest risk.

    At its worst, Omicron will cause massive numbers of people–largely unvaccinated people–to be hospitalized, keeping other people from getting medically necessary treatments and preventive services that are not Covid-related.

    That said, if Omicron infects 40 percent of people world-wide in the next two months, as some predict, it could lead to herd immunity, at least for a time.

    No question that Omicron spreads quickly and does a good job of infecting vaccinated and boosted individuals as well as the unvaccinated. Thankfully, vaccinated individuals seem to have mild symptoms. One new study suggests that Omicron has a higher risk of leading to severe disease in unvaccinated individuals.

    At its worst, Omicron could lead to nearly 350,000 more people dying in the first half of this year, about 60,000 more than in 2021. If Omicron turns out to be less transmissible than Delta but causes a little more serious disease, we would likely see half as many deaths as in 2021.

    Some good news: Three new studies find that Omicron leads to fewer hospitalizations than Delta. But, it could still test our public health system, overrunning our hospitals. Delta was causing 115,000 infections a day in early December.

    President Biden has announced that the administration will distribute 500 million free rapid tests, but that’s less than two a person and hardly enough. He is also planning to deploy military medics to hospitals and use Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to provide testing.

    We don’t yet know what the next variants of Covid will look like, how quickly they will spread, or how severe a toll they will take on people. Scientists are finding that the novel coronavirus mutates in very different ways from the flu.

    Some additional good news. Pfizer’s Covid pill appears to be working, and Pfizer will be manufacturing 120 million pills this year. They should keep people from hospitalization.

    Some less good news. No one thinks Covid is going away. In fact, it is infecting dogs, cats, deer and other wildlife, giving it a perch in the world that cannot be contained.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: What to think about Omicron

    Coronavirus: What to think about Omicron

    Most of us are a bit at a loss as to what to think about Omicron, let alone how to pronounce it. FWIW, I like to say Oh-my-cron! It’s yet another curve ball in the battle to conquer the novel coronavirus and liberate the world from this ghastly pandemic. StatNews has a lot to say about it.

    First, to date, there are still very few documented cases of Omicron, although it has been detected in 19 states. We do not yet have lab results that reveal whether vaccinated individuals are well protected against Omicron. But, researchers are now investigating how well the antibodies of vaccinated people fare against Omicron.

    The good news: Many experts believe that vaccinated individuals are protected from any serious illness and death, even if they might get sick from the virus.

    And, Helen Branswell reports for StatNews that the latest data from South Africa, based on 42 cases, suggests that Omicron does not appear to lead to as severe symptoms as other versions of the virus. For example, most people with the virus did not need extra oxygen or substantial care and very few needed intensive hospital care. Few developed Covid pneumonia; of those, only one had been vaccinated.

    While it is still early days and scientists and public health experts must draw conclusions based only on anecdotal evidence, it appears that vaccinated people need not worry about severe symptoms if they do contract Omicron. In the words of Anthony Fauci, “There’s every reason to believe, as we talk about boosters, when you get a level high enough, that you are going to get at least some degree of cross-protection, particularly against severe disease,”

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