Why omicron is crushing hospitals — even though cases are often milder than delta
SHOTS HEALTH NEWS – Omicron has filled up U.S. hospitals with more COVID-19 patients than any other surge of the pandemic.
But there’s been a shift in how the illness behaves since the days of delta, with many cases, even hospitalized ones, milder and quicker to treat.
As with earlier variants, COVID-19 can still be a dangerous, unforgiving disease for patients who are vulnerable either because of underlying medical problems or because they’re not vaccinated …
REPLY TO DISQUS COMMENT:
You refer to Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, who made her statements based on seven — SEVEN — early Omicron patients.
It is certainly the case that a typical cohort of seven Omicron patients that the most likely number of deaths is zero. It’s when we get to 7,000, or 700,000 — and we’re well past those numbers — that we see preventable deaths mounting.
AS SHOTS Health News reported this week:
“Omicron has filled up U.S. hospitals with more COVID-19 patients than any other surge of the pandemic. But there’s been a shift in how the illness behaves since the days of delta, with many cases, even hospitalized ones, milder and quicker to treat … omicron is so contagious that even with a smaller proportion of patients getting very ill, the absolute numbers are still enormous. As a result, new hospital admissions have been higher than during any other surge.”
This is certainly not “fake news.” – HEADLINE HEALTH
But it’s also increasingly clear that omicron is less likely to inflict the same level of damage as the delta variant.
This is what the real-world evidence from the U.S. and other countries continues to show, including data published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Patients are being hospitalized, landing in the ICU and dying at lower rates than with earlier variants.
“The percentage with omicron is considerably lower,” says Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
It’s fortunate because omicron is so contagious that even with a smaller proportion of patients getting very ill, the absolute numbers are still enormous. As a result, new hospital admissions have been higher than during any other surge.
University of Virginia critical care physician Taison Bell says omicron is milder in the same way that a hurricane can be milder than a tornado: The tornado may cut a more destructive path with high-wind speeds, but the hurricane has a much bigger footprint.
“When you have so many more people who are being affected by the storm, you are still going to end up with an overwhelmed health care system,” says Bell, who’s an assistant professor of medicine at UVA.
Milder, but not mild
During the omicron surge, the rate of hospital admissions has been 27 per 1,000 cases compared with 78 per 1,000 when delta was dominant … READ MORE.
