Omicron is so infectious it makes it hard for the elderly and immunocompromised to avoid
The omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 that has swept across the U.S. since late last year has taken a grimmer toll than earlier variants, including in people who were vaccinated and even had booster shots. That’s according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that 42% of COVID fatalities in January and February were of vaccinated people, compared with 23% of the dead in September, when the delta variant was still dominant. The data are based on the date of infection and limited to a sampling of cases in which vaccination status was known, the paper reported. The deaths were mostly in elderly people and people with compromised immune systems. Almost two-thirds of those people who died during omicron were 75 and older. Omicron, and its growing number of subvariants, has proved to be far more infectious than earlier strains. The rise in fatalities is thought to be linked to vaccine protection waning over time, making it harder for those patients who are most at risk to avoid contracting the disease. The data also show that unvaccinated people remain at far higher risk than the vaccinated, and are far more likely to die if they do become ill, and they are at more risk than people who have had their booster shot. “It’s still absolutely more dangerous to be unvaccinated than vaccinated,” Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California at Irvine who studies COVID-19 mortality, told the newspaper. “A pandemic of — and by — the unvaccinated is not correct. People still need to take care in terms of prevention and action if they became symptomatic.” COVID cases are still rising across the U.S. after their steep decline early in the year. The U.S. is averaging 60,953 cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, up 55% from two weeks ago. The country is averaging 17,220 hospitalizations a day, up 16% from two weeks ago, but still close to the lowest level since the first weeks of the pandemic. The average daily death toll has fallen below 400 to 331. In a sign of how the trend has changed, New York City on Monday raised its COVID risk level to medium from low. The city is averaging 2,654 cases a day, compared with about 600 a day in early March. The number may be even higher as many people are now testing at home and the data are not all being collected. NN: By the time the leaves turn it will be back. The covid is still with us. For a fact cases are way under reported. That’s ok. When people around us start dropping dead again there will be no doubt. I urge you not to let your guard down. The best thing you can do is stay current on your vaccine……. Enjoy the quiet before the NEXT storm…….