Covid Variant Omicron (B.1.1.529)

[pinball1970]

It's funny how the people who advocate letting COVID run its course never consider that if enough people get sick at the same time, then that is potentially worse than anti-COVID measures, because people in the health services get sick too!

Yes I have flip flopped on this more than once on this.

The numbers in hospital ( link below) are going up from 18th -21st December, nearly 50%

We have had 9 days of exponential growth since then and are now at 183,000 cases today in a 24 hour period.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

40,000 cases per day pre Omicron was putting about 800 people in hospital daily.

One study suggests 60% less chance of going to hospital with Omicron, so 5 times the cases (I think we will hit 200,000 soon) we still get 3 times the admissions we had mid-December.

Assuming all these new cases are Omicron, if not the number will be higher.

We were at 4000 cases with Alpha in January and news reports said the NHS was very stretched, not just beds but staff exhaustion.

Next two weeks pretty crucial, probably a lock down after NY.

 

[nsaspook]

It's funny how the people who advocate letting COVID run its course never consider that if enough people get sick at the same time, then that is potentially worse than anti-COVID measures, because people in the health services get sick too!

I think that most believe in utilizing the limited medical resources to optimize good outcomes of those most at risk. Omicron is removing the choice of 'letting' into 'forcing' a running of the course.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-689998

Omicron wave will only end after masses are infected - analysis
Israel has no plan to stop the Omicron wave, which has already swept across the country.

“The fifth wave might end when a large number of people will be infected,” said Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunology lab at Bar-Ilan University. “Only through natural exposure when protected with vaccines do I see this virus becoming endemic.”

The first and second waves ended when Israel locked down, stopping the spread of the virus but causing severe damage to the country’s economy and people’s mental and emotional health.

“Because Omicron is so contagious, our efforts to stop its spread are probably pretty futile,” said Prof. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians. “We are not going to stop this wave.

“What we can and should try to do is protect the most vulnerable as much as possible.”

 

[Astronuc]

Federal data shows the nation is now reporting an average of more than 277,000 new cases a day, shattering the previous record of 250,000 cases per day from last January.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-sh...s-experts-predict-infection/story?id=81991897

Over the last month, the U.S. daily case average has tripled, and the nation has reported more than 1.9 million new cases in the last week alone -- an average of about three Americans testing positive for COVID-19 every second.

According to the video "Pediatric hospitalizations have doubled in the last month." A following video mentions, 200,000 children have tested positive for SARS-Cov-2, an increase of ~50% since the beginning of December, and more than 2100 children are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, and NY State has more children hospitalized for COVID than for any other state.

Across the country, more than 84,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 -- up by 40,000 patients in the last seven weeks. On average, more than 9,400 Americans are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 every day, up by nearly 20% in the last week.

NY State published their data early today. 74,207 new positive cases and another 76 deaths, including one child in the 0-9 year age group.

The state [Florida] on Wednesday reported 46,923 new cases from Tuesday, as the omicron surge nearly doubled Florida's previous peak over the summer. The state, which broke the record for new daily infections that was just set on Christmas Eve, is now averaging more than 30,300 new Covid-19 cases a day, according to data tracked by The Washington Post - second in the nation to New York.

. . .

More than 4,400 people in Florida are hospitalized with covid, including 498 in the intensive care unit. While the hospitalization rate has increased by more than 100% compared to last week, Pushaw argued that "the percentage of cases requiring hospitalization as of now is lower overall than we saw with previous variants."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-shatters-record-coronavirus-cases-194649707.html

 

[PeroK]

For the record, there are record numbers of cases across a lot of western Europe now: UK, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland . Germany is the main exception.

In the past, deaths have followed about two weeks later, so we'll need to wait and see.

 

[chemisttree]

Are deaths reported as “death with Covid” or “death from Covid”? Could all be artifacts.
Same with hospitalization… Covid-caused hospitalization vs Covid associated hospitalization.

 

[valenumr]

Hawaii reported almost 3500 new cases today after a holiday / weekend lull. An estimated 1.5 percent of the island population has active covid. Regardless of the comparative virulence of omicron, the numbers are having a substantial impact: https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/h...affect-staffing-levels-across-industries/amp/

 

[PeroK]

Are deaths reported as “death with Covid” or “death from Covid”? Could all be artifacts.
Same with hospitalization… Covid-caused hospitalization vs Covid associated hospitalization.

As far as I am aware, all the figures from the UK are Deaths and Hospitalisations with COVID. In the extreme case, if you test positive and die in a car accident, then you're counted as a death with COVID.

Clearly this has the potential problem that IF everyone gets a mild form of COVID, then everyone who dies has COVID and the figures will be subverted. I can see this as a problem in the months to come. And, we might have to rethink how we count COVID deaths.

 

[chemisttree]

In the UK they track the cause of hospitalization as well as the number admitted with Covid. As of December 21, 80% of Covid positive admissions were for something other than Covid, termed incidental.

Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...hould-treated-caution-many-patients-admitted/

I wish our CDC did as good a job. Our data is so suspect, it is difficult to say what is actually happening.

 

[atyy]

In the UK they track the cause of hospitalization as well as the number admitted with Covid. As of December 21, 80% of Covid positive admissions were for something other than Covid, termed incidental.

Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...hould-treated-caution-many-patients-admitted/

I wish our CDC did as good a job. Our data is so suspect, it is difficult to say what is actually happening.

Yes, the UK does a superb job of releasing data. But the Telegraph report is erroneous. Most admissions were for COVID, and were not incidental. John Roberts has a simple example explaining a related error by Mail Online.

 

[chemisttree]

Where is s John getting his numbers? A “scenario” isn’t data?

 

[StevieTNZ]

It doesn't surprise me the case numbers in the US @/or A are high given you've got people like this roaming around --

 

[pinball1970]

Today, NY State reports 67,090 new positive COVID-19 cases, exceeding the previous daily record of 49,708 positive cases set 4 days ago. The state also reports 99 new deaths, including a child/youth (10-19) and another young adult (20-29), since the day before (there were 6 deaths in this age group since Dec 20, 8 days ago). The variant is not mentioned on conjunction with the new deaths. This represents a significant increase in mortality in those two age groups.

Edit/update: Using two sources from NY State,

                12/27   Pct     12/28     11/28   Diff
Statewide Total 48,150  100    48,249    46,484  1,765
Unknown              9      
90 and Over      7,520  15.6    7,530     7,320    210
80 to 89        12,861  26.7   12,882    12,469    413
70 to 79        12,465  25.9   12,492    11,992    500
60 to 69         8,798  18.3    8,817     8,460    357
50 to 59         4,168   8.7    4,181     4,011    170
40 to 49         1,482   3.1    1,489     1,426     63
30 to 39           620   1.3      620       587     33
20 to 29           189   0.4      190       176     14
10 to 19            21     0       22        17      5
 0 to  9            17     0       17        17      0

The last column shows the number of deaths in one month, 11/28 - 12/28. Many or most deaths in the younger age groups have occurred during the last week. So, the mortality rate seems to have increased significantly.

We are approaching Feb/March numbers.
332 deaths yesterday the highest since March. Last week the average was around 112.
About 190,000 cases in 24 hours also.
Everywhere is open no one is wearing a mask except on public transport and then not all.
New year's Eve today as I am sure are aware.

 

[artis]

Are deaths reported as “death with Covid” or “death from Covid”? Could all be artifacts.
Same with hospitalization… Covid-caused hospitalization vs Covid associated hospitalization.

This was also the shortcoming in my country at first they pretty much counted everyone under Covid death category who died and also had a positive test at or before death.
I may stand corrected but I think that you don't die from Covid itself just as you don't die from the flu, you die from the more serious side effects that some get after or during the infection.
The only way to accurately count deaths would be to actually only label "Covid death" those people who actually had a Covid infection related health problem.
I know a woman , relative, who died from cancer , she was already on her last minutes and then Covid came. They labeled her as Covid death simply because of the positive test. In fact Covid had next to nothing to do with her passing.

But then you run into problems with those folks that have serious long term preexisting conditions and then due to Covid the condition worsens and the person dies, technically without Covid they may have lived a couple more years so you have to count them as Covid victims.

I hope the way statistics is made has been updated and is more precise as we move on.

 

[PeroK]

I hope the way statistics is made has been updated and is more precise as we move on.

There is no perfect answer to this. The reasons for death are too complex in general.

 

[pinball1970]

This was also the shortcoming in my country at first they pretty much counted everyone under Covid death category who died and also had a positive test at or before death.
I may stand corrected but I think that you don't die from Covid itself just as you don't die from the flu, you die from the more serious side effects that some get after or during the infection.
The only way to accurately count deaths would be to actually only label "Covid death" those people who actually had a Covid infection related health problem.
I know a woman , relative, who died from cancer , she was already on her last minutes and then Covid came. They labeled her as Covid death simply because of the positive test. In fact Covid had next to nothing to do with her passing.

But then you run into problems with those folks that have serious long term preexisting conditions and then due to Covid the condition worsens and the person dies, technically without Covid they may have lived a couple more years so you have to count them as Covid victims.

I hope the way statistics is made has been updated and is more precise as we move on.

The pathologists do have a good crack at this. Also the stat guys do adjustments based EXTRA deaths in a year by year month basis going back around 5 years. There is a biostatistics on here, pretty sure he explained this was it? @StatGuy2000

 

[StevieTNZ]

I made it to the end of 2021 without catching Covid! Woo!

As for Omicron, it continues to be detected at the border in MIQ cases - 10 yesterday. Two cases were "briefly active" in the community around Christmas but most close contacts have all tested negative. Hopefully there is no undetected spread of it. It is just currently delta that we're battling with, though numbers tend to be dropping despite the move to the 'traffic light' Covid framework.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

This was also the shortcoming in my country at first they pretty much counted everyone under Covid death category who died and also had a positive test at or before death.
I may stand corrected but I think that you don't die from Covid itself just as you don't die from the flu, you die from the more serious side effects that some get after or during the infection.
The only way to accurately count deaths would be to actually only label "Covid death" those people who actually had a Covid infection related health problem.
I know a woman , relative, who died from cancer , she was already on her last minutes and then Covid came. They labeled her as Covid death simply because of the positive test. In fact Covid had next to nothing to do with her passing.

But then you run into problems with those folks that have serious long term preexisting conditions and then due to Covid the condition worsens and the person dies, technically without Covid they may have lived a couple more years so you have to count them as Covid victims.

I hope the way statistics is made has been updated and is more precise as we move on.

A good statistic that can try to distinguish "deaths with COVID" from "deaths from COVID" is excess deaths. Essentially, it compares the current death rate with the average pre-pandemic death rate from a similar period in time. This helps distinguish whether the rate of deaths is elevated over the normal baseline level of deaths. However, these data are somewhat slower to collect, so it is harder to measure the effect of Omicron on excess deaths at the moment.

Of course, excess death does have some limitations. One assumption in the excess death data is that the excess deaths are all directly attributable to COVID-19, but there could be some other causes of excess deaths that cause the mortality of COVID-19 to be overestimated (e.g. if people are more hesitant to seek medical care and die as a result, this could contribute to excess mortality without being a death directly due to COVID-19). Similarly, if the pandemic indirectly decreases other rates of death (e.g. if lockdowns lower the rate of fatalities from car accidents), this could cause the mortality of COVID-19 to be underestimated by excess mortality statistics.

Here are some sites with data on excess mortality:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm
https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

 

[artis]

One assumption in the excess death data is that the excess deaths are all directly attributable to COVID-19, but there could be some other causes of excess deaths that cause the mortality of COVID-19 to be overestimated (e.g. if people are more hesitant to seek medical care and die as a result, this could contribute to excess mortality without being a death directly due to COVID-19).

Exactly, in fact in my country the lines and waiting periods for crucial diagnostics have gone sky high during the worst peaks of the pandemic simply due to the shortage of staff and hospital space being taken up by sick patients of Covid. I tried to get in line for a lower back MRI which admittedly is not a first priority diagnostic health-wise and the date is next year around this time...That is for state sponsored diagnostic , if I pay cash I can probably get few weeks.
Sure enough the effect mostly goes to the folks who are with chronic long term issues like cancer and they do get their treatment timely but some other factors which are also among the most common causes of death like heart problems do get treated less now so I suspect there could be excess deaths simply due to lack or delay of medical attention for certain risk groups.

 

[atyy]

A good statistic that can try to distinguish "deaths with COVID" from "deaths from COVID" is excess deaths. Essentially, it compares the current death rate with the average pre-pandemic death rate from a similar period in time. This helps distinguish whether the rate of deaths is elevated over the normal baseline level of deaths. However, these data are somewhat slower to collect, so it is harder to measure the effect of Omicron on excess deaths at the moment.

Of course, excess death does have some limitations. One assumption in the excess death data is that the excess deaths are all directly attributable to COVID-19, but there could be some other causes of excess deaths that cause the mortality of COVID-19 to be overestimated (e.g. if people are more hesitant to seek medical care and die as a result, this could contribute to excess mortality without being a death directly due to COVID-19). Similarly, if the pandemic indirectly decreases other rates of death (e.g. if lockdowns lower the rate of fatalities from car accidents), this could cause the mortality of COVID-19 to be underestimated by excess mortality statistics.

Here are some sites with data on excess mortality:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm
https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

In the UK, analysis of publicly available data is good enough to show that almost all excess deaths have Covid as a cause.

 

[chemisttree]

In the UK, analysis of publicly available data is good enough to show that almost all excess deaths have Covid as a cause.

That analysis is based on a report for week 44 of 2021. What week was Omicron discovered in the UK?

 

[pinball1970]

That analysis is based on a report for week 44 of 2021. What week was Omicron discovered in the UK?

27.11.21 according to this article

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...cron-variant-arrive-in-uk-and-is-it-spreading

 

[Astronuc]

That analysis is based on a report for week 44 of 2021. What week was Omicron discovered in the UK?

The first case of Omicron was announced on 24 November by South Africa, with the first positive sample dating back to 9 November. Since then it has been found in multiple countries around the world, including the UK, where the first cases were reported on 27 November in two people in England with links to travel to southern Africa. As of Tuesday (Nov 30) there have been 22 cases in England and Scotland.

The Guardian, Wed, December 1 - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...cron-variant-arrive-in-uk-and-is-it-spreading
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-uk-cases-of-omicron-variant-identified
So about week 47/48.

From Dec 13, 2021 - Britain reports first death with Omicron Coronavirus variant
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-says-omicron-spreading-phenomenal-rate-2021-12-13/I just learned a close friend and colleague contracted SARS-Cov-2 about two week ago (based on developing COVID-19 symptoms 10 days ago), and probably Delta variant based on loss of smell and taste, and other symptoms. He received both initial vaccines earlier this year, and a booster about 2 months ago. Two of his children contracted it as well, and I believe they are vaccinated as well. The children are not as affected, and they seem to be fine.

 

[chemisttree]

Lets hope your friend’s case is mild. Scary when your sense of smell gets whacked. My daughter caught whatever variant of Covid that was around last spring at school. She had a mild case without being vaxxed.

 

[PeroK]

COVID reaches Antarctica!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59848160

 

[BillTre]

COVID reaches Antarctica!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59848160

Chilling News!

 

[Astronuc]

Looking at some numbers of Covid-19 cases at the end of the year.

New York State set yet another record for positive cases the last day of the year with 85476 new cases. About 10.3% of the total positive cases in New York State of the cumulative positive cases happened in the last 7 days of the year, going from 3,184,195 on Christmas Day (12/25) to 3,555,040 positive cases on 12/31! That is 370,845 new positive cases (some could be reinfections) in one week.

As for deaths, NY State reports 48496 deaths (~1.5% of confirmed positive cases), confirmed in a medical setting or care facility. There are another nearly 13,000 deaths occurring outside of a medical or care facility, but which are probable COVID-related deaths. The state has performed more than 88.87 million tests, enough to test the entire state population 4.55 times each. It's unknown how many people who had asymptomatic infections and were not tested, but given the amount of testing, it's probably not that great.

During the last 3 days of 2021, the cumulative death numbers:

Confirmed COVID Deaths NY State
 Ages     12/29   12/30   12/31
  90+     7,536   7,550   7,564
80 - 89  12,898  12,912  12,939
70 - 79  12,512  12,532  12,549
60 - 69   8,837   8,856   8,871
50 - 59   4,187   4,194   4,205
40 - 49   1,492   1,497   1,503
30 - 39     624     625     625
20 - 29     190     190     191
10 - 19      22      22      22
 0 -  9      18      18      18

In Washington State, as of Dec 29, the state reported

7,705,281 (pop. 2020)
  849,075 positive cases    11.0% of pop.
   45,381 hospitalization   0.59% of pop., 5.3% of positive cases
    9,853 deaths            0.13% of pop., 1.16% of pos. cases, 21.7% of hosptialized

 

[pinball1970]

Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has been identified initially in COVID-19 patients in Botswana and South Africa.

Anthony Fauci claimed that while it would take weeks to judge the severity of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, early indications suggested it was not worse than prior strains, and possibly milder.

Early studies yes

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...f-that-omicron-is-less-likely-to-damage-lungs

As has been outline previously, if you are getting 5x as many cases (as is the case in the UK) then this will still lead to significant severe cases and deaths.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/29/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests

Citing a series of international studies showing milder Omicron outcomes, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said at the same news conference that “the pattern and disparity between cases and hospitalizations strongly suggest that there will be a lower hospitalization-to-case ratio when the situation becomes more clear.”

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientific officer for the W.H.O., said that early real-world data indicated that the link between infection numbers and hospitalizations had been “disrupted.”

I'll take the small silver lining in these numbers and trends.

 

[kyphysics]

I promise I am not paid by Eric Ding.

 

[Astronuc]

https://news.yahoo.com/virus-leaves-antibodies-may-attack-204240584.html
(Reuters) - Coronavirus leaves survivors with self-attacking antibodies

Months after recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection, survivors have elevated levels of antibodies that can mistakenly attack their own organs and tissues, even if they had not been severely ill, according to new findings.

Among 177 healthcare workers who had recovered from confirmed Coronavirus infections contracted before the availability of vaccines, all had persistent autoantibodies, including ones that can cause chronic inflammation and injury of the joints, skin and nervous system. "We would not normally expect to see such a diverse array of autoantibodies elevated in these individuals or stay elevated for as long six months after full clinical recovery," said Susan Cheng of the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles. Patterns of elevated autoantibodies varied between men and women, the researchers reported on Thursday in the Journal of Translational Medicine .

 

[kyphysics]

https://news.yahoo.com/virus-leaves-antibodies-may-attack-204240584.html
(Reuters) - Coronavirus leaves survivors with self-attacking antibodies

Did vax status make a difference? I.e., Were those left with "self-attacking antibodies" non-vaccinated? Or, did some include vaxed too?

Asking, b/c this sounds scary! I am vaxed + boostered, but STILL don't want to get COVID because of fears of getting weird long-term effects like this...wondering if these weird things happen equally to vaxed survivors and non-vaxed survivors?

 

[pinball1970]

Did vax status make a difference? I.e., Were those left with "self-attacking antibodies" non-vaccinated? Or, did some include vaxed too?

Asking, b/c this sounds scary! I am vaxed + boostered, but STILL don't want to get COVID because of fears of getting weird long-term effects like this...wondering if these weird things happen equally to vaxed survivors and non-vaxed survivors?

looks like mainly pre vaccine?

"Among 177 healthcare workers who had recovered from confirmed Coronavirus infections contracted before the availability of vaccines"

 

[StatGuy2000]

The pathologists do have a good crack at this. Also the stat guys do adjustments based EXTRA deaths in a year by year month basis going back around 5 years. There is a biostatistics on here, pretty sure he explained this was it? @StatGuy2000

Admittedly mortality statistics is not my area of expertise. That being said, I am aware that determining cause of death is typically based on the primary medical condition that can be linked to the mortality cases. The tricky issue is when a particular patient with a serious co-morbid condition (e.g. cancer) contracts COVID-19 and then subsequently dies. It is possible that cause of death could be listed as both cancer and COVID-19.

Are there adjustments made to account for extra deaths? I'm not entirely certain about this.

 

[StatGuy2000]

https://news.yahoo.com/virus-leaves-antibodies-may-attack-204240584.html
(Reuters) - Coronavirus leaves survivors with self-attacking antibodies

I am curious if the presence of auto-antibodies after recovering from COVID-19 may provide an explanation for at least some of the cases of "long COVID" that has been reported among some people who had been infected with COVID-19.

There have been also some reports that patients who reported long COVID have experienced improvements in symptoms (often even complete cessation of symptoms) after being vaccinated. Perhaps the vaccines can somehow neutralize the self-attacking antibodies? Again, speculation on my part, but perhaps there is research to examine this?

 

[Astronuc]

There have been also some reports that patients who reported long COVID have experienced improvements in symptoms (often even complete cessation of symptoms) after being vaccinated. Perhaps the vaccines can somehow neutralize the self-attacking antibodies? Again, speculation on my part, but perhaps there is research to examine this?

I've read of such reports. There is ongoing research into the effects of Long COVID (because there are so many people with the condition) and effect of vaccines on Long COVID.

23 November 2021 - Do vaccines protect against long COVID? What the data say
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03495-2

Can Vaccination Protect You From Long COVID?
https://www.everydayhealth.com/coronavirus/can-covid-19-vaccines-protect-you-from-long-covid/

Anecdotal reports that some so-called long haulers feel better after getting the COVID-19 vaccines have sparked a new line of research, as scientists explore whether immunization can treat — or even prevent — long COVID.

Iwasaki is currently a principal investigator of the Yale COVID Recovery Study, an ongoing project designed to measure changes in immune response and long COVID symptoms before and after COVID-19 vaccination. The research includes all three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news...accine-effects-on-covid-long-haulers/2668440/
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/vaccines-long-covid

https://whyy.org/articles/can-the-vaccine-improve-persistent-symptoms-for-covid-long-haulers/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-relief-vaccines-help-some-covid-long-haulers

Edit/update: NIH launches new initiative to study “Long COVID”
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-w.../nih-launches-new-initiative-study-long-covid

NIH builds large nationwide study population of tens of thousands to support research on long-term effects of COVID-19
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/new...s-support-research-long-term-effects-covid-19