There are two pieces of good news about omicron, one of which is that it may not be around for long and the other is that people who are fully vaccined don't need to worry.
Medical experts say that the peak of omicron isn't likely to last long.
Since it was first identified the day before Thanksgiving, it has already burned through South Africa. The number of newly diagnosed people had fallen from their peak a week earlier, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
If the northeast follows the same pattern, it could see falling case rates as early as mid-January.
The news is better for people who have the vaccine. Vaccination and boosting seem to make a big difference in people with a healthy immune system, even though two shots are not as protective against omicron.
Travelers wait to check in for their flight. The new omicron COVID-19 variant has become the most dominant strain in the USA.
Dr. Craig Spencer said in a thread that people with three shots seem to suffer just a sore throat and fatigue for a few days.
People who have had two shots get worse symptoms. More tired. There is more of a high temperature. More coughing. He wrote that he was a little more miserable.
He said that those who had just one shot were worse off. "Not great, but not life threatening."
Spencer, who works at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, said that most of the people who have to be admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Every single one had a profound shortness of breath. Oxygen levels dropped when they walked. Every person needs to breathe regularly.
Sandile Cele is a researcher at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa. Medical experts say that the recent drop in new COVID-19 cases in South Africa may be a sign that the wave has passed its peak.
His account was supported by doctors at other hospitals. Several people said that vaccinated people have fewer symptoms and are sick for shorter periods.
Those with weak immune systems are the exception.
"We have to be careful with the immunocompromised and people who are frail," said Dr. Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital. That's an important group that hasn't been fully protected.
The number of patients at a hospital. The general has more than doubled in the past two weeks, from 40 to 45 with COVID-19, as omicron has taken over. He said that phone calls to the hospital have increased with more than 500 asking for information over the Christmas weekend.
Gandhi said that Omicron made it difficult to stay out of the hospital. Two of the three monoclonal antibodies given to people at high risk for severe disease no longer work against omicron, while a third, sotrovimab, is in short supply.
Gandhi said that Paxlovid and molnupiravir, which were authorized by the FDA last week, are much easier to give and could make a difference in the epidemic. He hasn't had any to offer yet.
Pfizer provided an image of the company's COVID-19 Paxlovid pills. The first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus, was approved by the U.S. health regulators on Wednesday. In this photo provided by PFCizer, a person is posing.
Jeremy Luban, an infectious disease expert at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, said that omicron may still land people in the hospital even if researchers believe it is less dangerous than previous versions.
Luban and Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease expert at Mass., said that it means reverting to the days of trying to flatten the curve to keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. Gandhi and other Massachusetts researchers joined General on a conference call with reporters.
Lemieux said that they have to hold on to the two realities as they think about how to go forward. The picture isn't completely bleak. The new medicines suggest that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to get through the tunnel and it is dark for the next few weeks.
A COVID-19 patient was transferred to an intensive care unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. Hospitals, nursing homes, police departments and supermarkets are struggling to maintain a full contingent of nurses, police officers and other essential workers as the Pandemic enters its third year, as the worldwide surge in coronavirus cases driven by the new omicron variant is the latest blow to already strained hospitals The file is about the AP Photo/Jae C. Hong.
By moving so fast and infecting so many people, could omicron give lots of people immunity and help speed up the end of the epidemic?
Probably not.
The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, which focuses on immunology, believes that a less pathogenic virus would be a good idea. I don't think we are willing to say that it is. I think it's probably not.
MikeStucka contributed to the report.
Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com.
The Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in healthcare gave USA TODAY a grant to cover health and patient safety. Editorial input is not provided by the Masimo Foundation.
The original article was on USA TODAY: Omicron good news? It may go quickly and not pose a threat to the vaccine.
