Omicron forces us to rethink the mild COVID

When Delta swept the United States last year, it was highly contagious, Deadly Variant threw us Pandemic Limbo.. The virus remained dangerous primarily to unvaccinated people, but they mainly wanted to move on. Vaccinated people also wanted to move forward primarily. The virus didn’t want to go any further.So we got stuck in a deadly rut, and more Americans Died of COVID-19 in 2021 Today, Omicron is sweeping the state by state, and even highly vaccinated, across the state, with a surge in new cases. The virus is still the most deadly to unvaccinated people, but the vast number of vaccinated but mostly mild infections has shocked us from its post-delta stagnation.It ’s very contagious to deal with this, but now mild Variant, we are in the middle of a COVID reset.

Already, the CDC is reducing the quarantine period for vaccinated people.Breakthrough infections It’s becoming more commonplace..And Anthony Fauci Refers to hospitalizationMany infections are now mild breakthroughs, so not as a case, but as a measure of the true impact of Omicron.

By infecting so many people very quickly, the coronavirus is also speeding us towards the future of endemic disease, where everyone has some degree of immunity. It’s not fatal in the end. But in the short term, Omicron as an accelerator is dangerous. The fastest way to fashion is not the best way.U.S. still has Too many unvaccinated and unvaccinated People, and incidents that may have spread over months, are now compressed into weeks.Even if a smaller percentage of patients are hospitalized than before, the smaller percentage Simply multiplying a huge number of cases Overwhelm the hospital It’s already too thin.. The next few weeks will be a bad time to develop COVID, appendicitis, or a broken leg.

Compressing all these mild cases into weeks is at the expense of itself. At the same time, many health care workers get sick and get worse. Continued shortage of hospital staff.. Schools, airlines, subways, and businesses are also aware that their workers are sick with Omicron. There may not be a preemptive shutdown, but unexpected cancellations will occur. “Weeks will be a nuisance, and I don’t think there’s a way around it,” says Joseph Allen, a professor of public health at Harvard University.

The fact that it ends up with a unique COVID hasn’t changed. And the fact remains that people cannot expect to avoid the virus forever in endemic scenarios. Omicron is now forcing us to see head-on the reality that people can obtain and disseminate COVIDs even if they are vaccinated. The problem is that we are doing it in a crisis situation.

With so many people infected with COVID, our way of thinking about the virus is changing. Breakthrough infections are new and normal. For some time, at least in certain highly vaccinated foam, Breakthrough infected people I was worried about what they did “wrong”. But now, forgive the exaggeration, everyone has a COVID. And if you don’t know, you probably know someone to do so. Even the most careful people are sick. “I think the silver lining is shameful as long as it has a silver lining. [of getting COVID] It will melt quickly. And thank you for the good, “Linsey Reininger, a public health policy expert at Dartmouth College, told me. Breakthrough infections It will also become the norm when COVID eventually becomes epidemic.

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Vaccinated people also correctly recognize that the personal risk of bad COVID cases is much lower than in March 2020 (Omicron is also essentially). A little less toxic than DeltaHowever, Delta was more toxic than the original coronavirus, so Omicron is in the same stadium as the original stadium. ) Transition to fashion Always partly psychological, people slowly let go of the idea that COVID must or can be avoided forever. Omicron revealed it very quickly.

Even if your COVID is forever unavoidable, there are good reasons to avoid getting or handing over your COVID over the next few weeks. Syra Madad, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard University, told me that a better cure for Omicron was imminent. Pfizer’s highly effective tablets have just been approved by the FDA, There is a shortage of supplies.. Currently, only one monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab, acts on Omicron, There is also a shortage of supplies.. “Unfortunately it’s a terrible time to be hospitalized and not have access to these types of treatments,” Madad said. Within a few months, the outlook for individual people at serious risk from COVID will improve.

For society as a whole, the vast number of cases is now a risk to our hospitals and our critical services. According to Reilinger, consider everything a person who is susceptible to COVID needs. “We need water in her faucet, we need food in her fridge. And since our hospital is besieged, we allow visiting nurses to fly. I need to, “she told me. This means that aquatic plants, grocery stores and airlines need their employees to stay healthy and continue to work.

This is where things get messy. Our Omicron strategy is also constrained by the willingness of the more tired masses at this point. The virus is so high that we need to flatten the curve again. But in March 2020, we understood the social distance of “flattening the curve” as a temporary means of surviving the next few weeks or months. “Now it’s been two years. Do we need to do this for five years? It’s not sustainable,” says Julie Downs, a risk perception researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. If the most drastic COVID restrictions, namely stay-at-home orders and preemptive closures, are off the table, a staggering number of Omicron cases cannot be avoided.

The CDC seeks to balance these realities by reducing the quarantine period for sick people from 10 to 5 days. The agency is The most confusing way possible— Before adding an optional test, first do not need a test for the asymptomatic person and downplay the usefulness of the test. However, the CDC basically deals with a series of difficult trade-offs. Currently, not all sick people are tested quickly enough, and isolating a person for both too long or too short a time has consequences. Prolonged isolation between teachers and students will prevent the school from remaining open. You can’t get them back quickly, spread the virus, and keep the school open.

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Omicron forces us to rethink how to deal with mild cases of COVID, which will never go away altogether. Unfortunately, it does so in chaotic and dangerous moments. You need to plan ahead for the next variety and the next winter. Future challenges are already clear.Stressed hospital Even in the bad season of influenza, Every winter you need to deal with the combination of COVID and the flu. Coronaviruses continue to evolve, and new mutants emerge that continue to weaken immunity.and series Of the three paper Last week, a group of former Biden advisors monitored all respiratory infections, including COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, and through more powerful testing and monitoring, reduced the collective burden than the bad season of influenza. Has set out a long-term strategy for. , Palliative, and development of vaccines and treatments. We’ve been lurking in response to new variants over the past year, but even if the coronavirus surprises us again, what the United States now needs is a big picture goal for COVID.