Omicron milder?

[HereticFanjo]

I saw a clip on Andrew Marr where a South African doc was saying Omicron so far is wide spread but a mild illness. No hospitalisations that she has seen. She did say in 2 weeks the picture might be different but I feel a bit more hopeful that Covid is evolving towards common cold. Or am I delusional?

@Lockdowninfinity

Too much speculation. We have to wait and see. But my initial reaction is 50/50……Is healthcare free in SA? is it normal for young men to flock to the Dr with mild infection - whether service if free or not? On the flip side; Increased transmissibility is usually associated with milder illness for viruses isn’t it. So here’s hoping.

I agree with this, I was wondering why so many people were turning up at docs with mild illness, if you are a young man and you think you have a flu or something you just crack on don’t you. I’ve had a nasty flu for weeks, I’m a fat 40 something woman, haven’t bothered going to the docs. Yeah mild in medical speak is different though. Fingers crossed it’s relatively harmless though.

Actually there is no reason to think Covid will evolve to become less harmful.

It doesn't need to, because it takes such a long time to kill the people it does kill. So it has plenty of time to be passed around before then, including when the carrier is pre-symptomatic, asymptomatic, or only has mild symptoms.

I'm cribbing this thread:

twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1464913368201015297

@HereticFanjo

I saw a clip on Andrew Marr where a South African doc was saying Omicron so far is wide spread but a mild illness. No hospitalisations that she has seen. She did say in 2 weeks the picture might be different but I feel a bit more hopeful that Covid is evolving towards common cold. Or am I delusional?

South Africa has a relatively youthful population ; UK has a relatively older population. There are significant climate differences.

It's too soon to know if omicron will behave the same way in our society . in our winter etc.

The G7 health ministers aren’t having an urgent meeting tomorrow because it’s a mild variant.

Actually he goes on to say a lot more than that but you'd need to read the whole thread.

I saw the interview too and she was saying that's why she flagged that there might be a variant - as she was seeing much milder cases. Hopeful....

She tested extended families , not just the patients

Sadly it was just an excerpt of the article . What the clinic doctor said was most people ( tested in an equivalent of our gP surgery) were mild . It is anticipated that a new variant will show first in a younger more mobile so less likely to be severe population . There simply isn’t any guarantee this will be the case here and the mutations look horrible . There are a few they don’t know what the impact will be ( might be fine might not be ). Best to be on the safe side IMO

@GreenLunchBox

Most of the African populations have avery strong inherent immune reaction to covid. Rather the opposite in Europe/asia.

Do you have a source for this?

Not quite what you asked, but I think @decentchap might have been referring to the recent study that found a gene that doubles the risk of death from COVID. 60% of South Asians have the gene, 15% of Europeans but only 2% of people with black African heritage.

www.theguardian.com/science/2021/nov/04/human-genetic-variant-can-affect-covid-severity-say-oxford-scientists

It's bring reported that Omicron virus is mild. Symptoms include aching sore muscles and fatigue but only lasting 2-3days. It's more severe in the unvaccinated though.

So, is it all a total over-reaction?

Well here's another piece of anecdata pointing towards it being mild, from a report about the man who was the first case detected in Italy:

"The other five members of his family -- the man’s wife, two children, mother and mother-in-law, have also tested positive for Covid. Investigators are seeking to confirm whether they, too, have the omicron variant.

“Considering my family, which includes men and women aged from 8 to 81, and the mild symptoms we experienced in these 10 days, I can say that I am happy to have been vaccinated since the vaccine worked very well,” he said. "

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-28/italy-s-first-omicron-carrier-probably-arrived-two-weeks-ago

If you are unvaccinated for a medical reason I'm Concerned. If it's just through choice, I'm not interested.

Why should our lives stop, our Children's school close, because of how this new variant affects the non vaccinated. Not interested.

This just in!!!

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/top-israeli-health-expert-covid-vaccine-reduces-severe-illness-in-omicron-cases-1.10421310

twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1465067528581955587

thought this was going to be a baby name thread (smile)

Honestly ,too early to know .Seems so much speculation .

WHO reporting POSSIBILITY that "people who have previously had COVID-19 could become reinfected more easily with Omicron"
and also that

"It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron. There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants. Initial reported infections were among university students—younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease—but understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks"

www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron

CovidFactCheck on Twitter says:

"It’s very early days on this and we need much more data to be certain of anything. But if we got lucky with this outcome it would be a big relief…

Really need to see how this variant affects elderly groups and those who are clinically vulnerable."

@decentchap

Most of the African populations have avery strong inherent immune reaction to covid. Rather the opposite in Europe/asia. If it were mild then a fully vaccinated pop would be at no greater risk then currently. Omicron's aggressiveness and potential to cause casualties has, as yet, not been tested or understood.

@decentchap where’s your source for this?

I'm with those wondering why, if it was so mild you had only a slight headache and tiredness, you would be going to the doctor. Young men, too. I have to drag my DH kicking and screaming to the doctor. Doesn't seem to add up to me, so I imagine she is taken out of context.

[quote SpangleWhorl]@HereticFanjo, I missed this.

Was the doctor talking about the effects of the Omicron variant in a largely vaccinated or largely unvaccinated population, do you know?

I really hope to god it's milder. I guess time will tell.[/quote]
She was talking about SA, which has around 24% of adults vaccinated

@ColouringPencils

I'm with those wondering why, if it was so mild you had only a slight headache and tiredness, you would be going to the doctor. Young men, too. I have to drag my DH kicking and screaming to the doctor. Doesn't seem to add up to me, so I imagine she is taken out of context.

Google says in SA they have to have a sick note after 2 days or day one if they have been off in the last 8 weeks.