Why Omicron May Be the End of the Coronavirus Pandemic

I fear this is all not surely known yet— it is the new year and we’re all looking for a bastion of hope, but my expectations are that we are a long way away from an endemic. I had so many good things starting to happen: I had a relationship, was going on dates, feeling safe. Then it all crumbled away. Now I sit on my bed on a cold Louisiana day, trying to find reasons to live..

The people saying Omicron is just like bad cold, it’s not a big deal, just live your life and calling people "sheeple" are part of the reason this is dragging on and on.

It’s like a cold for some people but not everyone.

Asymptomatic people can transmit the virus to others, some people are immunocompromised, others are high risk, etc.

There is a risk of long Covid with Omicron and despite it being milder than Delta there is still a risk of long term neurological or vascular damage.

People who already have long Covid (symptoms for months to over a year) are at risk for reinfection.

The first American to die from Omicron was a reinfection, he was unvaccinated and high risk due to underlying conditions but unfortunately there are a lot of people like him.

[quote]A study released this week from Public Health Scotland found that the majority of omicron cases in the country indeed appear to be among those previously infected, accounting for more than 10 times the number of reinfections associated with delta.

[quote]People with long Covid "have good reason to be worried, unfortunately," said Dr. John Baratta, founder and co-director of the UNC Covid Recovery Clinic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

[quote]“We have seen people in our clinic who have been reinfected with Covid with the other variants," he said. "They have new or worsened long Covid symptoms after their reinfection."

[…]

[quote]Omicron's apparent propensity to cause less serious illness may provide a false sense of security, said Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn, medical director of the Mayo Clinic's Covid-19 Activity Rehabilitation Program in Rochester, Minnesota.

[quote]”Over three-quarters of our patients had very mild illnesses and then went on to develop long-haul Covid," he said. The implications of a fast-spreading variant such as omicron are significant. A recent study from the Penn State College of Medicine estimated that more than half of those with Covid will have symptoms for at least six months following their infection.

[QUOTE] The people saying Omicron is just like bad cold, it’s not a big deal, just live your life and calling people "sheeple" are part of the reason this is dragging on and on.

The people saying that are morons. It’s still important to treat the Coronavirus seriously and get vaccinated (I myself have three shots of Moderna), but it would be nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

NYTimes is basically calling Omicron the flu.

Europe moves toward treating Coronavirus like the flu.

And it only took FIVE MILLION DEAD PEOPLE to get here.

And all we have to do is wait till the decoupling leads to a much more lethal variant, developing the Omicron transmissibility. Or evolving into another unique SARS-CoV-3...

Way to hope for the best, R8.

In medical terms "mild" means you don't end up in the hospital. That doesn't mean won't get damn sick from it particularly if you have other medical issues.

The thing that worries me most is long covid. I'm double vaccinated and have had a booster, but the latest studies in long covid show that you only need a mild case to get it.

Yes, R10, you’re correct. But that’s the friggin point. The Coronavirus becoming something that makes us “damn sick” means no more global pandemic.

What will R8 bitch about niw? I'm elated Omicron has displaced Delta.

"Long COVID" is the new chronic fatigue syndrome. You'll only get it if you want to, R11.

I swear, this site is teeming with people who don’t want this shit to end. Do you motherfuckers own stocks in companies that are profiting off the pandemic or something?

Trust me, I want this to end....I just don't want to do it at the cost of millions of people.

r13, I will bitch that it isn't killing the unvaccinated faster.

.

r8

[QUOTE] Trust me, I want this to end....I just don't want to do it at the cost of millions of people.

Millions of people died anyway, R16. There was nothing you could do to prevent it.

The fear porn posts on this site put the Markle fanatics to shame R15.

Old article. I read nothing about covid that is more than a week old

Old article? I’ve updated the thread with numerous articles, R20, including the one from R6 which was published today and largely reiterates the same points from the one in OP. Nothing has changed except for more data corroborating the theory that Omicron is much more mild and far less deadly than any variant before it.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, OP.

Nobody even knows what the hell “long covid” is, R22. And so long as people aren’t dying in hospitals, there doesn’t appear to be any need for broad lockdowns to counter it.

[quote]The thing that worries me most is long covid. I'm double vaccinated and have had a booster, but the latest studies in long covid show that you only need a mild case to get it.

I had omicron over two weeks ago. All the symptoms are gone and a home test shows I'm negative but it left me with a lingering cough.

R24 There is a risk of Aspergillosis (fungal chest infection) from Covid which isn't well understood yet?

It's difficult to diagnose and is unlikely to clear up without anti-fungal medication.

Only know because I got it last November after a mild bout of Covid and they tested my sputum for a week, really easy to clear up. One pill a day for two weeks.

I'd like to be hopeful, but cautiously so, and realistic. In my state (RI), which is one of the most vaccinated (77%), hospitalization rates are now as high as they were in last winter's surge. Death rates are lower, fortunately. For the vaccinated omicron may be like the flu, but that still means lots of people home sick from work and school at any given time. And there are the long-term effects of severe cases that we still don't fully understand. So I'm going to keep up all the precautions.

[quote] Nobody even knows what the hell “long covid” is, [R22].

That is part of a very big problem when millions of people - in one week with the US - are being infected with the new variant of Covid.

[quote] And so long as people aren’t dying in hospitals, there doesn’t appear to be any need for broad lockdowns to counter it.

Well, OP, I don’t know about others here, but I don’t rely on rollingstone.com to determine decisions relating to my health or those of patients.

I actually read and study worldwide medical literature. And listen to those who are experts in their field. I also listen to patients coming in with symptoms relating to Covid, well after their acute (in quite a few cases, mild) infection has passed and they develop significant symptomatic pathology.

The following is from an expert in virus pathology (and a certified doctor.....NOT rollingstone.com)

[quote] That is one of my biggest concerns with this attitude of not worrying about Omicron too much because it might cause less severe symptoms. We know that long Covid is a problem for the other variants. It’s a big problem that is poorly understood medically, but is very clearly a real thing. These are real medical problems that people are having for months to now years after infection. Some people are saying everybody is going to eventually get Omicron, and that’s just the wrong attitude. We can make it so that not everybody gets it, and therefore reduce the risk of long Covid in too many people. We can’t just let it spread to everyone on the globe, because that’s going to be a medical catastrophe. Now is not the time to do nothing and hope for the best.

[QUOTE] I'd like to be hopeful, but cautiously so, and realistic. In my state (RI), which is one of the most vaccinated (77%), hospitalization rates are now as high as they were in last winter's surge. Death rates are lower, fortunately. For the vaccinated omicron may be like the flu, but that still means lots of people home sick from work and school at any given time. And there are the long-term effects of severe cases that we still don't fully understand. So I'm going to keep up all the precautions.

Nothing wrong with that attitude.

Because the midterms are coming up. That's why.

Remember DLers -- do not vote for single GOP candidate.

Stop their insidious march toward fascism!

R3 Had Omi over the holidays. Was mild. Fast forward to now and I have what I thought was a UTI. Weird, cus I never get them. Go through a round of antibiotics. Some symptoms went away but pain in my kidney persisted. I went back to the Dr, I have blood in my urine. Hes suspecting kidney stones or some type of kidney infection. I am going to get a CAT scan next week. Now, I am not saying they are related. I am saying my diet has not changed and I drink a ton of water a day. I have never had issues before but it is pretty random I am having them now. Could be nothing, but it is strange to me.

^ Seeing a great deal of this, R32. You are not alone.

Here’s a not too dissimilar situation:

A patient who was noted to have incidental gallstones on an abdominal CT (for a work-up for something else) years ago, went to the ER following acute, mild Covid. Weeks after the Covid he developed severe, sudden abdominal pain that necessitated this ER visit. He was diagnosed as having acute cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation).

The symptoms did not resolve with medical treatment and progressed. An extensive work-up including multiple scans and endoscopies revealed he had a gallstone in the Ampulla of Vater: which can be serious.

He was referred for immediate removal of his gallbladder - endoscopically which is usual now.

Upon intraoperative endoscopy, his abdominal cavity was full of so much inflammation that his omentum (the “doorway” to the abdominal cavity) was contracted, fibrosed, inflammed, and adherent to his abdominal organs. It was necessary to open him up using a surgical knife with a huge incision.

Most anatomical landmarks for the gallbladder (which is surrounded by the liver, pancreas, arteries, veins, and small bowel) were obscured. It was an exceedingly difficult procedure. The gallbladder ducts were essentially broken down and unidentifiable.

His post-operative course was complicated: an upper GI bleed, multiple scans and repeated endocopies.

Months later, he is slowly recovering.

I use this as an example of someone I know very well: my father. I’ve been with him every step of the way.

I also use this case as an example of what I am also seeing post-Covid. At first, when otherwise healthy patients were presenting with significant symptoms after Covid experiences, I took them to be entirely unrelated. Now, as I see more and more cases and speak with my colleagues, I do believe these are examples of Long Covid.

My father’s case was an example of tissue that was broken down so much it resembled reports of patients with severe, acute Covid pulmonary deterioration.

The intraoperative “feel” of tissue in patients that have Covid and now have “other issues” is different than those who have not had a Covid. (A surgeon relies on touch, intraoperatively.). It is as if the tissue is more friable....more broken down.

If Covid is actually a microvascular disease, this would explain much.

It can be a beast and should not be underestimated.

Did you get the vaccine r32? That may be g your problem. Check your symptoms on the VAERS website.

Omicron and the misnomer of Mild

[QUOTE] “It can still be severe,” Topol said. He calls it less severe, not milder. “‘Milder’ caught on early, and I think it’s unfortunate it’s given this impression, because there’s so many people dying and winding up in the ICU.”

The people dying in ICUs are mostly unvaccinated and wouldn’t take the virus seriously no matter the severity of any variant. Calling it a milder strain isn’t going to cause everyone to skip their boosters and throw their masks away. Most people understand that it’s still deadly, but it could still portend better days ahead for the pandemic.

[quote] Check your symptoms on the VAERS website.

Or just any old conspiracy theory website you like.

“ushering in its endemic phase."

Why do these abundant articles always seem to leave out the little fact that NONE OF THIS HAD TO HAPPEN!

We had a contact, trace and isolate system that was refined over a century into the international powerhouse that was the CDC. There was no disease they couldn’t handle.

Until the republicans told them to stand down while they intentionally spread this virus all over the world. Abandoning the protocol that had worked, GLOBALLY, to virtually eliminate the spread of SARS, MERS, H1N1 and many others.

These malignant actions are what allowed the disease to spread all over, kill millions of people and now possibly never be able to be contained.

This is the consequence of electing psychopaths to office.

[quote] The people dying in ICUs are mostly unvaccinated

Mostly true, but there are those who are otherwise healthy vaxxed X 3 and still transition.

Why? It’s unclear at this point in. May be genetic.

The larger issue for the majority is the morbidity. It’s called M & M (Morbidity and Mortality) for a reason. Someone used the analogy of war: if you have 5 people with AK Guns shooting at you, how is that so much better than a thousand people shooting at you with handguns?

[quote] but it could still portend better days ahead for the pandemic

Not necessarily, R36.

[quote] Mostly true, but there are those who are otherwise healthy vaxxed X 3 and still transition.

They do what?!

How could they have gender reassignment surgery when they have COVID?

They die (was using a more polite euphemism that is unfortunately is “preferred” now. Many say they find the other term too harsh?!)

Sorry for taking this into the gender sphere.

“Transition” seems to be the popular word now. Go figure?

"Transition" is not a "preferred" term for "die." Especially in a medical context, and *especially* on DataLounge.

[quote] "Transition" is not a "preferred" term for "die." Especially in a medical context, and *especially* on DataLounge.

Agree, R44. My apologies.

Certainly should have been on point and more aware in this context.

Which is why the term was used: after an emergency call in, my colleague and I announced to a family that their family member had “died”. They reamed us for using “insensitive terminology” and being “unaware of the use of words and language in a time of great stress and difficulty”.

Never mind that we’d been up all night and were sleep-deprived.

Find myself functioning in a fog these days.

Although no excuse, apologies again for the “insensitive terminology” on DL.

I don't think it's considered "insensitive" so much as tackily euphemistic.

That’s just it, R46. Everyone has their own perception of what words may mean.

To you, “tackily euphemistic”.

To some non-med individuals, it’s “more appropriate”.

For some DLers it brings up associations with gender; some which may be less than ideal.

It’s exhausting keeping up with what everyone prefers. And demands.

Please suffocate, R34 = anti vax fuckwit.

Fauci says it's not over, and that we can't be too sure the virus has become endemic yet. We cannot be certain there won't be more variants coming in the future, which may completely evade our current vaccines. FFS, he's as depressing as R8.

OP is always free to act as if the pandemic is over. If your argument is that everyone needs to emulate this action, that's something else.

The UK has seen Omicron cases decrease by a fifth over the past 2 weeks, so they're lifting all restrictions by the end of this month.

R51, and in three weeks the case numbers will be back up as we all know. Governments want this virus to act the way past viruses have, and it doesn’t. Wishful thinking isn’t cutting it.

And now is the prime time for the NEXT killer variant to show up...

Like Jaws 2?

Where’s the next variant?

R40 — that's some scary shit. The world needs some kind of independent medical news source for when pandemics occur. We need a global voice of reason that everybody, without politics, without brainwashing can tell us what direction COVID or other diseases are going. The way that Twitter account says, is that it's here to stay, restrictions and all. Life will not resemble normalcy because it is an epidemic pathogen.

California lifting mask mandate.

New York lifting “mask or vax” mandate.

Don't worry R56! No one is stopping you from from wearing masks and getting useless outdated boosters for the rest of your life so you can feel like a delicate flower that has to be cradled and protected always.

Wow, r59 sure got mad at someone suggesting we have a neutral source of medical news that will inform people, rather than get bogged down in politics.

[quote] in three weeks the case numbers will be back up as we all know

This was posted on Jan 19th and it's Feb 9th right now, so exactly three weeks. Case numbers aren't going up, they're dropping some in the US and in the world overall.

I was responding to R56 's professed fear at the idea of covid being permanently epidemic, R60. Not her suggestion of bias free reporting.

What's really scary is the people developing type 2 diabetes after catching covid even though they have no family history of it.

How many people, R63?

If it’s not the HFCS, it’s the ‘Rona 🙄

Put down your fucking fork and go for a walk!

The demographics for all the death in this country was 24% 85-year-old and 76% obese and diabetic. Nothing you can do about age. Flu and colds can turn into pneumonia for old people because at that age you are weak and fragile. The rest of the country would be better off with covid if they would lose weight. But we are in denial about obesity.

The article just noted an unusual increase in Type 2 Diabetes cases in post covid patients R63.

Probably because everyone stayed home for 2 years and got fatter.

Fauci: US heading out of pandemic phase

We have survived every variant AND had copious amounts of ACTIA! We may be superhuman!

What a surprise; Erna is toxic to the coronavirus. We should process her into a serum.

75% of Americans have immunity from Omicron.

Covid is over

I don't understand the study referenced at R73. It seems to assume a strong "immunity" from the vaccines and especially from infection, and that that "immunity" will last.

It is far from, R74. COVID will be a health concern for decades to come. Until the universal corona vaccine is finally released and invented.

[quote] Why Omicron May Be the End of the Coronavirus Pandemic

That's ok Yankee Dog. Wait till you see what our labs send you next time.

[quote]Covid is over

Not as over as the 3,000 Americans it killed yesterday.

[quote]Covid is over

And a new mutation of Omicron is on its way that has shown to be more resistant to vaccines. Whee!

Lovely.

It's too early to get overly optimistic that future strains would be milder enough to consider the pandemic over.

Weren't they just starting to lift mask mandates when Delta hit? Am I experiencing De Ja Vu?

Apparently enough people think indoor mask-wearing is some kind of intolerable burden that there's a constant clamor to "end the mask mandates." So they end them, and the numbers then surge again, with the hospitals clogged with patients and people dying all over the place. Wash, rinse, repeat.

My company is requiring employees to come to work 3 times a week starting Feb 28th. Let's see how smooth that goes.

R83 Yes, it's deja vu, and I remember it vividly. I had been fully vaccinated (no boosters yet) and when they lifted the mask mandates here in California, I went to visit a friend in Palm Springs. We went to all the bars and restaurants unmasked. The day after I got back, I got sick. The next day, I got tested and found out I had the dreaded Delta variant. Sickest I'd ever been in my life.

I'm gonna keep wearing my mask for a while now.

That's what happens when you rely on a single antigen, narrow spectrum vaccine that only kinda inoculates against spike proteins from the original strain, R80. Ludicrous to ever think it would provide a stable immunity that would allow us to "beat covid".

In 5 weeks my fave film premiers think it will go straight to COVIDEO.

1000 Americans die each day of this infection. This is not behind us.

I will stop wearing a mask when the infection test rate drops below 5% and STAYS THERE.

Where I live, today, 12.3%

Newsweek is not a reliable source for unbiased information.

nor is dl.

I use the Covid Act Up app on my phone.

Plus, it alerts me if a location I have been at, the past few days, has shown someone positive for COVID.

R91 "Newsweek is not a reliable source for unbiased information. "

It's been a steaming pile of dog shit for about 10 years now. Not even a shadow of it's former self.

[quote]1000 Americans die each day of this infection.

More than 2,300 a day last week, per the CDC.

Happy about the trends. Truly. But still crazy to see case, positivity, hospitalization, and death numbers worse than most of the last 2 years, and majority of kids still unvaccinated, but adults (health experts even) all but declaring the pandemic over.

This past Monday I got news in a zoom meeting that a young (30?) in shape and healthy coworker who refuses to get vaccinated per our company policy and had been working remotely from home for the last two years is currently in a hospital ICU room with COVID . Today we learned they had no recourse but to put him on a ventilator. Outlook is not good. So much for Omicron being less serious.

Old news.

I know its terrible, but I'm very happy that all the dumb shit anti-vaxers are suffering.

If its true that this next variant is even more transmissible, those anti vaxers are in for even more fun this summer.

Wait wait wait. Is that tweet at R96 from THE Jerome Adams, DL's favorite cookie-smelling Surgeon General? I'm surprised to see him talk so sensibly, though like his patron Pence he may be trying to free himself from the Trump stench.

[quote]If its true that this next variant is even more transmissible, those anti vaxers are in for even more fun this summer.

Oh, much sooner than that. Omicron had barely been identified in South Africa before it started setting records in the US (right after Thanksgiving).

[quote]If its true that this next variant is even more transmissible...

If you're talking about BA.2, it's already replaced BA.1 in the UK and US. So stop fretting.

Well, as long as it's going after Trump's minions, I don't mind wearing a mask.

Well at least you admit your motives have nothing to do with health and everything to do with political vindictiveness.

Funny, r105, is that why Trump said he was not responsible?

[quote]Until the universal corona vaccine is finally released and invented.

Hopefully not in that order.

Hysteron proteron.

Today the poz test rate is 7.9% in Las Vegas. Gonna hit 5% soon.

CDC basically removing federal indoor mask recommendation.

Mask it in a basket

Is Omicron Part 2 a bust? Haven't heard of the next one yet. Are we at the end of the tunnel?

I think the politicians got bored with COVID. There just letting it be the wild, Wild West it is.

It’s not a matter of being “bored” with it, R113. Cases and deaths are dropping around the world. What do you think the reaction will be?

[quote]There just letting it be the wild, Wild West it is.

Oh, dear!

We had the same hope and conversation last summer about being at the end.

Didn't work out very well. Let's see what happens this time.

Philly dropping all local indoor mask mandates.

Why people and not science decide when a pandemic is over.

R116

1) can’t compare Delta to Omicron 2) many, many, manyyy more people have had it now. That was the “blessing in disguise” re Omi. We can’t not be at herd immunity at this point.

(Of course, someone here will start quoting Eric Topol to prove me otherwise)

Pfizer CEO is saying we need another booster (4th shot) for a new strain.

Rolling up my sleeve even as I type.

This thing has been "over" so many times before coming back for another visit.

Coming attractions

China orders 51 million into lockdown as COVID surges

China is facing its worst COVID crisis since early 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan and its surrounding province. Two years on, it's now sending tens of millions of people into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, where 24 million people live, and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively.

China, the last major country to relentlessly pursue a Covid-zero policy, reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities on Monday. That’s a fourfold jump in a week. Although record case numbers are testing the resilience of China’s no-tolerance approach, there is no sign the country is willing to pivot to ‘living with the virus."

The epicenter of the omicron variant outbreak is the Northeastern Jilin province, where 895 cases were recorded, but there are also outbreaks and containment measures in place Shanghai, the financial powerhouse, and Shenzhen, the southern tech hub. Authorities announced on Monday afternoon that all 24 million people in Jilin province would go into lockdown, including the previously locked down city of Changchun. It's the first provincial lockdown since Wuhan and Hubei in January 2020.

On Sunday, China ordered all of Shenzhen’s 17.5 million residents into a seven-day lockdown, with three rounds of testing. All public transport is halted and all businesses, except essential services, will be closed until March 20.

As a result, Apple supplier Foxconn has shut two of its plants in the area and relocated production elsewhere.

The lockdown and outbreaks threaten manufacturing and tech production in Shenzhen, known as China’s Silicon Valley. It’s home to Huawei and Tencent, and is home to one of the country’s key ports. Professor Heiwai Tang at Hong Kong University told ABC News that he doesn’t expect these week-long lockdowns to have a significant impact on the country's gross domestic product. “It seems the lockdowns will be shorter this time with more tracking, which means a short disruption of work and production," Tang said. "If it ends up lasting for weeks it’s another issue, including inflation risks.” Professor Michael Song from Hong Kong’s Chinese University estimated that the two-month lockdown in Wuhan cost China 2% of its GDP.

There’s immense pressure on local authorities to contain the virus, with state media reporting that the Jilin City mayor and the head of the Changchun city health commission were dismissed from their roles over the weekend. Shanghai-based virologist Zhang Wenhong called the flare-up “the most difficult moment in the past two years” of China’s efforts to stamp out the virus. Shanghai has so far avoided a full-scale lockdown.

Across the border from Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong is also still tackling its deadliest wave yet, driven by Omicron. Hong Kong recorded 26,908 cases and 286 more deaths on Monday, officials said. Hong Kong’s death rate is the highest in the developed world, in part because of sluggish vaccination rates among the elderly.

Mega isolation facilities are being built across the Hong Kong for people with mild cases. One facility, with 3,900 beds, was built in a week. ABC News witnessed several busloads of people arriving at the facility from all over the city. Self-titled "Asia’s world city," Hong Kong is undergoing strict social-distancing measures and still has strict border measures in place, leading to an expat exodus. Many businesses are closed until late April. The mental-health strain of the strict lockdown has also becoming apparent. Last month, police reported three suicide attempts in 27 hours at one of the quarantine camps.

R123 Mainland China is doing lockdowns when cases get above a thousand or even less in some cities without even any death. Meanwhile other places just let the virus run, stop testing and say it's over.

^ that’s because the Sinovac vaccine is useless against the newer variants.

Should have imported some mRNA when there’s still time

Yeah what happens in China has nothing to do with us.

CDC officially switching to endemic phase.

Have to wait for fall and winter to come to see how well this goes. Calling it endemic means they don't care anymore if you spread it around, so everyone will be eventually exposed. Then again pandemic policy in this country has been pretty spotty, so this is inevitable.

This article aged like milk. Omicron is here to stay along with all the new outbreaks of various diseases all over the world. I hate being stuck at home.

Senate votes to end COVID national emergency