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Omicron mild? Experts slam earlier presumption as US sees record hospitalisation
"People forget the nature of exponential math. If you have 10x, 20x greater number within 2-3 weeks, that out swamps any benefit of 2x lower mild. That’s why we see hospitalization rates surging across multiple countries” with Omicron," Dr Eric said.
Amid the ongoing debate of how wrong it is to call Omicron, the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a mild variant, scientists have started pointing out that deaths from Covid-19 are rising in South Africa. "Looks like some may have discounted #Omicron too soon. Let’s stop it with the “it’s mild” nonsense once and for all. Protect your community. Protect kids," epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding has written on his social media as the South Africa government has added some backlog fatality figures in its tally recently, It is not clearly known whether those deaths were due to Omicron.
Omicron was first identified in South Africa on November 24. Since then, its spread has been rapid and in many countries, it has replaced Delta. The present surge in the number of Covid cases across the world is because of Omicron.
Showing the data of hospitalisation in the United States, data scientist William Ku said Covid-19 hospitalisation in the US has sent a new record with 1,38,073 currently hospitalised in the US. "ICU occupancy is now at 22,394 - twice the level just 7 weeks ago. Deaths are rising in states like NY. Are these the signs of a "mild" infection?" the researcher said.
Explaining the surge, Dr Eric said that it is simple math as exponential cases are likely to swamp out any 'mildness'. "People forget the nature of exponential math. If you have 10x, 20x greater number within 2-3 weeks, that out swamps any benefit of 2x lower mild. That’s why we see hospitalization rates surging across multiple countries” with Omicron," Dr Eric said.
World Health Organization has recently flagged that Omicron should not necessarily be categorised as mild. “Just like previous variants omicron is hospitalising people, and it’s killing people. In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick that it is overwhelming health systems around the world,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan said that the speculation that omicron might be the last variant of the outbreak was wishful thinking. “There still is a lot of energy in this virus,” he cautioned.
Several doctors and experts have pointed out that Omicron's impact appears to be less severe as it does not attack the lungs. Young and vaccinated people may recover from Omicron soon, but for old and people with comorbidities, Omicron might not be as 'mild' as it is being projected, experts said.
