Edit: This is the “Science By Jae” podcast, I said something different so I apologize. Long week with a lot of turkey.
The new variant dubbed omicron was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 26th (fairly new).
According to the CDC there are no known cases of omicron in the USA. When it comes to this variant it is extremely similar to the beta variant with its mutations.
We do not know if omicron is causing increased levels of hospitalizations in South Africa. We do not know whether omicron is more infectious than delta. We do not know whether omicron causes more severe illness than the delta variant.
South Africa has low rates of vaccinations which can lead to the proliferation of MORE variants such as omicron.
Dr. Rudo Mathivha, head of the ICU at an Omicron epicenter hospital said that among their patients:
“About 65% are not vaccinated and most of the rest are only half-vaccinated”.
This preliminary commentary illustrates the current vaccines could be protective against this new variant but again we do not know. However, our current vaccines seem to be protective against multiple variants and we have a vaccine for the beta variant... this is the closest relative of omicron so do not panic.
Special thanks to @your_local_epidemiologist for the updates on this. For right now we need to focus on the dominant variant... delta and making sure majority of individuals that are eligible become vaccinated and if appropriate receive the booster. I’ll keep you all up to date if new information pops up.
The tracker I mentioned for the variant is this link.
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