Omicron up to 70% less likely to need hospital care

[jmyrlefuller]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59769969

People catching Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous variants, a major analysis says.

The latest analysis is based on all cases of Omicron and Delta in the UK since the beginning of November, including 132 people admitted to hospital with the variant. There have also been 14 deaths in people within 28 days of catching Omicron.

The report shows people catching Omicron are:

    31% to 45% less likely to go to A&E
    50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital for treatment

There are also signs that the effect of booster doses is waning. Two doses of a vaccine were shown to offer limited protection against catching Omicron, which was then restored with a booster dose. However, the report says this protection drops by between 15% and 25% after 10 weeks.

(excerpt)

[mountaineer]

As the Omicron symptoms reportedly are no worse than the typical wintertime cold or upper respiratory illness, I can't imagine there would be many hospitalizations except among the very elderly or those with certain preexisting conditions.

What did they call the "original" 'rona, if the subsequent versions are Delta and Omicron, and is anyone still getting the Delta?

[jmyrlefuller]

As the Omicron symptoms reportedly are no worse than the typical wintertime cold or upper respiratory illness, I can't imagine there would be many hospitalizations except among the very elderly or those with certain preexisting conditions.

And the other question I have is that how much of this Omicron spike is being driven by the mass panic to test as many people as possible before the holiday season?

Remember: the original strain had to infect somwhere between 20-25% of New York City in a month to push the hospital system to the brink of its capacity. If the numbers cited above are accurate, Omicron would have to infect almost everybody to have that much of an impact.

I also did some reading yesterday that noted that not only does it cause milder disease, but Omicron is also a much shorter duration (which is consistent with milder disease), coming and going twice as fast as the original.

[Right_in_Virginia]