The data from the South African and U.K. medical communities indicate that although Omicron is by far the most contagious of the variants, symptoms associated with this strain are milder, and hospitalization levels are lower than those reached during previous waves of COVID-19.
In fact, the South African Medical Research Council released a Tshwane District Omicron Variant Patient Profile in early December which said:
The main observation that we have made over the last two weeks is that the majority of patients in the COVID wards have not been oxygen dependent. SARS-CoV-2 has been an incidental finding in patients that were admitted to the hospital for another medical, surgical, or obstetric reason.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is so deeply invested in prolonging the pandemic, he focused on how highly transmissible Omicron is, refused to concede its less severe nature and continued to warn against complacency.
In an appearance on Sunday’s edition of ABC’s “This Week,” Fauci told host Jonathan Karl that “we’ve got to be careful that we don’t get complacent” about Omicron. “It might still lead to a lot of hospitalizations in the United States.”
Dr. Fauci tells @jonkarl that “we've got to be careful that we don't get complacent” about battling omicron, even if data from other countries might show a lesser degree of severity.
“It might still lead to a lot of hospitalizations in the United States.” https://t.co/CxSdhhlI9G pic.twitter.com/l9PeENDnwL
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 26, 2021
Partial Transcript of Segment (via Townhall):
JONATHAN KARL: So, in terms of Omicron, we know how wildly contagious it is, but what is your sense about how – what do we really know about how sick people are getting from this? As you know, there was data out of South Africa that suggested that it was less than 2 percent of those that were infected were hospitalized. That compared with about 20 percent that had been hospitalized under the Delta wave. That, by the way, is a country that doesn’t have, you know, anywhere near the kind of vaccination level that we have. And we saw some indications out of England too that it seems to be less severe.
What is – are you comfortable now in saying that Omicron is –
DR. FAUCI: Yes.
KARL: — wildly contagious, but not as severe a disease?
FAUCI: Well, there’s one thing that’s for sure that we all agree upon, that it is extraordinarily contagious. It’s just outstripped even the most contagious of the previous ones, including Delta. There’s no argument on anybody’s part about that.
When we first saw the data from the U.K., that it was very clear that the ratio of hospitalizations to cases was lower. Interestingly, the duration of hospital stay was lower, the need for oxygen was lower. And when you’re in a demographic situation like South Africa where you have most of the people have gotten infected with prior variants, either the Delta or the Beta, that it was very likely a combination of perhaps the virus is inherently less virulent or more likely there’s an underlying degree of residual protection from prior infections of those who have been infected and survived.
The data from the U.K., and particularly Scotland and England, two separate studies, really confirmed that. They’re seeing less of a severity in the form of manifestations by hospitalizations. The issue that we don’t want to get complacent about, Jon, is that when you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity so that if you have many, many, many more people with less level of severity, that might kind of neutralize the positive effect of having less severity when you have so many more people.
And we’re particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class, that, you know, tens and tens of millions of Americans who are eligible for vaccination who have not been vaccinated. Those are the most vulnerable ones when you have a virus that is extraordinarily effective in getting to people and infecting them the way Omicron is.
So even though we’re pleased by the evidence from multiple countries, that it looks like there is a lesser degree of severity, we’ve got to be careful that we don’t get complacent about that —
KARL: So —
FAUCI: — because it might still lead to a lot of hospitalizations in the United States.
KARL: Right. So, as an individual, your chance of having severe disease and needing to go to the hospital if you — if you get infected with Omicron might be less. Because there are so many more, the hospitals could still be overrun.
Let me —
FAUCI: That is the — yeah, that’s the concern. That’s the concern.
Except, at least in Vermont, the most vaccinated state in America, it’s not “the unvaccinated” who are clogging up emergency rooms, but the vaccinated.
Last week, WCAX, a CBS affiliate in Vermont, reported that the emergency room at the Rutland Regional Medical Center had been “overwhelmed” with vaccinated, asymptomatic residents. These people had taken rapid tests at home, tested positive and traveled to the emergency room to take a more reliable PCR test.
The outlet reported the Vermont Hospital Association had heard “similar stories from other parts of the state.”
Dr. Rick Hildebrant, RRMC’s medical director, told WCAX that those with positive rapid test results who are asymptomatic should “reach out to their primary care provider” or the Health Department.
He said the large number of asymptomatic people showing up to the ER is “preventing others in need of immediate care from getting it.”
“It’s not so much the beds that are the precious resource, it’s the staff at this time,” Hildebrant noted. “So, we have to have some of our clinical staff providing care to those people and they can’t provide care to the folks in the ER.”
As Omicron runs its course, and the pandemic transitions into an endemic, expect Fauci, Biden and other administration officials to continue to cling to their fearmongering. The pandemic has been a great gift to them and they are loath to let it go.
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