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Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, joins TODAY to discuss the response of President Biden to the omicron variant. She says there is no need to panic. Two years ago, we had vaccines, but now we have boosters. She says that there will be breakthrough cases of omicron, but they will be milder if you are boosted.
We know that the omicron coronaviruses variant is more transmissible than previous versions of the virus, and we're seeing record case numbers in some parts of the country. Does that mean that everyone should get COVID-19 now?
Experts say not yet. Many of us will likely be exposed, but whether or not we become sick depends on both public health policies and individual behaviors.
Expect to be exposed, but not necessarily sick.
Dr. Bernard Camins, medical director for infection prevention at the Mount Sinai Health System, told TODAY that we should expect to be exposed to the virus at some point.
He said that it's not a matter of if you get exposed to the omicron variant or any other variant of the coronaviruses, it's a matter of when. It may not be this week or in the next year, but eventually everyone will run into someone with a COVID infection.
Being exposed to the virus doesn't mean you'll get sick.
The professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA told TODAY that he doesn't think it's a foregone conclusion that everyone will get COVID-19.
He said that it depends on the public health response, as well as prevention measures such as masking and social distancing.
The biggest change will be if you get vaccinations and boosted.
The difference between a mild case of COVID-19 and a severe one is due to the fact that fully vaccineed and boosted will ultimately be the difference between exposure and infections.
People who get a booster have protection against getting it. He explained that introducing a booster that is specific to omicron is one way to make vaccine more effective.
Your vaccine status is going to have an effect on your outcome. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that people who are boosted will have less severe outcomes. There are going to be breakthrough cases of omicron, but they will be milder if you are boosted.
Don't worry if you get a breakthrough infection.
It might be a good idea for people to mentally prepare for a positive test at some point in the future. If you test positive for a vaccine, you should be concerned but not alarmed, he said, advising people to get in touch with their doctor and monitor their symptoms. Most people with omicron have mild symptoms.
It's always been a possibility for people to get vaccine.
It's part of adjusting to this phase of the epidemic that getting COVID-19 now as a vaccine is not the same as it was in March 2020.
We now have access to the vaccines, boosters, and more, but we still don't have access to rapid tests and oral antiviral medications. People shouldn't take the precautions they can to protect themselves if they have all these tools. It means that many of us can take more calculated risks.
Learning to live with COVID-19 means changing your mindset. It also means knowing that the virus will likely be with us for a long time, hopefully in a less and less impactful way as time goes on. The seasonal flu will still kill some people even after that.
I don't want to learn to live with it. I would like to get rid of it, and it's possible. I'm hoping that the number of COVID cases will be reduced so that there are small outbreaks that are easily contained and most of the population are not being exposed.
COVID-19 will be in our lives for a long time, regardless of what happens with omicron. Most of us will come in contact with the virus at some point or another, but that doesn't mean we'll get infections or have severe symptoms.
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California's winter COVID-19 surge intensified Wednesday, with new overall coronaviruses cases likely tied to holiday gatherings spiking up, along with confirmed cases of the Omicron strain.
The share of people with Omicron needing to go to the hospital was lower than the share of Delta cases.
The study looked at the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant and the new, more infectious Omicron variant. The authors of the study said that their study contributes to the emerging evidence that BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna) primary vaccine protection against Omicron decreases quickly over time with booster vaccination offering a significant increase in protection.
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