more evidence of omicron mildness
"hey look, nature made a vaccine"
first up: south africa
“So I actually think there is a silver lining here, and this may signal the end of Covid–19, with it attenuating itself to such an extent that it’s highly contagious but doesn’t cause severe disease. That’s what happened with Spanish flu.”
“In truth, [the virus doesn’t want to kill you, it wants you to stick around,” said Marc Mendelson, head of infectious diseases at the University of Cape Town and doctor at Groote Schuur hospital.”
more cases, fewer symptoms, less serious.
this bears out in the hospital data so far. also note that the case spread is being badly overstated due to the inclusion of antigen tests to the count that began on nov 23rd, right when this practice changed. this is not simple case surge, it’s a data splice around more inclusive definitions that resulted in a step function rise. it will also spike reported positivity because antigen tests tend to only get reported when positive.
and then on to norway:
gotta get that “experts warn” plug in at the end, but i would take that one with an entire shaker of salt (and preferably some tequila. and lime. after all, when have THOSE guys ever been self-serving hysterics before…)
“Doctors involved in tracing the outbreak say the infected are so far only suffering very mild symptoms like fevers, coughs, headaches and tiredness following the festive do on November 26.
Some 120 people who attended the Louise Restaurant and Bar in Oslo have tested positive for Covid, all of which are suspected to be Omicron but only 13 have been confirmed in a lab.
But Dr Tine Ravlo, a public health expert in the Norwegian capital involved in tracking the outbreak, said that so far 'none have become severely ill and none of them have been treated in hospital.”
“Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association and the first person to spot the new variant in a patient, said her patients infected with Omicron reported different and much milder symptoms, including tiredness, muscle aches, a sore head and a dry cough. But none reported the tell-tale symptoms of a loss of smell or taste or breathing difficulties.”
thus far, all the evidence seem to point to one fact:
this is covid becoming a cold.
And I must ask why in the name of everything are people rushing out to get tested for something if they have a sniffle to find out if they have something they need to go home and be scared of? This getting tested for everything has gotten completely out of control, especially considering that these tests can pretty much give a positive result for pretty much anything they want. "Yep, you have covid!" "Yep, you have omicron!" "Yep, you have the flu!" and on and on and on. Sorry to those of you who do rush out and get tested, but 2 years ago most people that got a sniffle and a mild fever and weren't coughing and hacking; ate some broth, stayed home and got rest and drank water. The recommendation has ALWAYS been (and I am not a physician, do what you want) if your symptoms don't start going away after 7 days *them* see your physician. STOP GOING AND GETTING TESTED FOR EVERYTHING. This has been part of the mind-screwing. We have to wise up.
Here is some news from the frontlines, as it were. My nephew and brother-in-law were the first two official Omicron cases in my north east blue state. Nephew tested positive the day before Thanksgiving, his father a few days later. Both had nothing more than cold symptoms (cough and sore throat, a little fatigue). I instructed my sister to make sure they both had adequate C, D and Zinc. Both have now completely cleared the illness. My 85 year old mother, who lives with them, developed mild cold symptoms a few days after my brother in law and was the next to test positive this past Saturday. Don't think it has been sequenced and confirmed as the new strain but, of course, you would certainly assume it is. It has so far remained mild despite my mother otherwise not being in great health. It also has not spread (yet) to my sister, her other slightly younger son or my father who all live in the same house. So far, so good. I'll keep you posted as things develop but all signs so far from this anecdote look like a much milder disease.