new covid mutation :: OMICRON believed worse than delta

ABC news is reporting today Europe is facing a "tidal wave" of omicron infections!

WHO is predicting that half of all europe could be infected with omicron over the next couple of months

This thread title is aging well.

And what they go through means it's coming here too.

Johns Hopkins data shows a 7 day rolling average of 1,715 covid deaths PER DAY in the US,

and almost 750,000 new omicron infections every single day.

So many threads in here to age well 

Covid’s omicron variant is currently tearing through the U.S. and the rest of the world at a record-breaking pace — but Bill Gates sees hope on the horizon.

Once the current surge abates, countries can expect to see “far fewer cases” through the rest of 2022, Gates wrote on Tuesday during a Twitter Q&A with Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh. Once that happens, Gates continued, Covid can most likely “be treated more like seasonal flu.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/12/bill-gatescovid-can-be-treated-more-like-seasonal-flu-after-omicron.html

unvaccinated r almost 20 times more likely to die than vaccinated

Europe is suffering big time right now.   Make no mistake. 

There's a lot of speculation about when omicron will fizzle out.  Optimism is wonderful but reality is more important.  The virus is mutating right now as we speak.

If you've been paying any attention, the Israeli's have been ahead of the rest of the world this entire time...first to vaxx, first to double, first to triple....and just recently first to quadruple dose.... 

https://unherd.com/thepost/israeli-vaccine-chief-we-have-made-mistakes/

Professor Cyrille Cohen is head of Immunology at Bar Ilan University and a member of the advisory committee for vaccines for the Israeli Government. In a wide-ranging and forthright interview, the Professor tells Freddie Sayers:

• The Green Pass / vaccine passport concept is no longer relevant in the Omicron era and should be phased out (he expects it to be in short order in Israel)
• He and his colleagues were surprised and disappointed that the vaccines did not prevent transmission, as they had originally hoped
• The biggest mistake of the pandemic in Israel was closing schools and education
• Widespread infection is now an inevitable part of future immunity — otherwise known as herd immunity
• Omicron has accelerated the pandemic into the endemic phase, in which Covid will be “like flu”

On the behavioural science behind the Green Pass:

On the risks and rewards of herd immunity:

On Israeli school closures:

On the acceleration from pandemic to endemic:

On vaccine mandates:

double gut punches and a drop kick

coming soon to a city near u  

That stat seems to have changed a few times but the point is still more or less the same.

Covid-19 hospitalizations are dropping in the Northeast.
In other parts of the country, they're rising.

CNN -
Covid-19 hospitalizations in the Northeast are down by about 11% after reaching a peak about a week ago and have also dropped slightly -- about 6% -- in the Midwest region, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
But in other parts of the country, a different picture. Covid-19 hospitalization numbers were up about 15% over the past week in the West and up by about 6% in the South -- with many hospitals stretched thin from the surge in patients and the severe staffing shortages.

They are starting trials now for a hopeful vaccine directed specifically at omicron.

Have to wait and see.

But I am skeptical that any positive results would arrive in time well before the next variant

Someone finally talking sense to the 3 stooges.... 

My fascination of Iceland data continues. Something about honest data...   https://www.covid.is/data

Child infections are now leading the way. Iceland charts 14-day incidence per 100,000 of any given category such as vaxed, unvaxed, boostered, etc.

Unvaccinated children have skyrocketed to 8000 per 100,000 for 14-day incidences. Right behind are vaccinated children at 6820 cases per 100,000, then fully vaccinated adults at 5954 per 100,000 followed by adults not fully vaccinated at 4403. The boostered are at 2547 per 100,000. 

Incidences of hospitalizations are higher for the boostered than the fully vaccinated adults. Guess that makes sense as most with boosters are the higher risk group like the elderly.

Unvaccinated have more hospitalizations at 53 per 100,000 followed by boostered at 19 per 100,000 and then fully vaxed adults at 15 per 100,000.

Not the "17", "23", times we keep hearing from our CDC. Maybe 2.5? Hmmm.

And no category for children in the hospital !!!! A good thing! 

there is no doubt that hospitals in many areas r being swamped with unvaccinsted covid patients