Omicron: 50% less risk of being hospitalized compared to Delta

Extensive american study carried out on nearly 70,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 has shown a substantially reduced risk of hospitalization and death with the variant Omicron compared to Delta, regardless of the levels ofimmunity growing among the population. People infected with Omicron were half less likely to be hospitalized than those with Delta, according to this work. The risk of being placed in intensive care was reduced by about 75%, and the risk of dying by more than 90%.

Of the more than 52,000 people infected with Omicron followed by this study, none needed a life support, compared to 11 of the nearly 17,000 infected with Delta. In addition, the median length of hospitalization was 1.5 days for Omicron, compared to nearly 5 days for Delta.

This analysis was conducted using data from the California hospital system of Kaiser Permanente, during the month of December 2021, when both variants were circulating widely. These data reinforce those accumulated from populations in other countries, for example in South Africa or Great Britain. But also those having shown – in animals or ex vivo (outside the human body) – that Omicron replicates itself more in upper airways (nose, throat) than in lungs, where severe forms of Covid-19 begin.

Omicron is “inherently less serious” than Delta

The study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Kaiser Permanente and Centers for prevention and disease control (CDC). ” The study took into account important parameters such as age, sex, past infections in SARS-CoV-2, vaccination status and co-morbidities ”, Declared Wednesday Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, while quoting this study at length during a press conference.

The results thus show that Omicron is “ inherently less serious »Than Delta, and not only that people who are more immune (after a past infection or vaccine) are currently catching it, the study explains.

In addition, if this work noted a reduced effectiveness of the vaccines against infections linked to Omicron, the protection remained nonetheless substantial against severe forms of disease. Despite everything, Ms. Walensky pointed out that Omicron’s very high contagiousness automatically led to a large number of hospitalizations, putting under pressure a care system whose staff has already been put to the test for two years. The country currently records an average of 750,000 new cases per day, and about 1,600 deaths daily. More than 150,000 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in the United States, a record.

Omicron variant: symptoms milder than with Delta?

Article by Stephanie Le Guillou, published on December 4, 2021

Omicron would cause symptoms lighter than Delta. Where does this information come from?

The new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, alert. Little information is currently available. But, given the number of mutations, this variant is potentially more contagious and more dangerous. What worries authorities the most is its possible ability to evade vaccines.

Data on the first cases in South Africa

Appeared only a few days ago in South Africa, it seems to cause symptoms different from those of others variants. This is notably what the Dr. Angélique Coetzee, President of the South African Medical Association. Seeing successive coronavirus positive patients with an atypical clinical picture, she alerted the authorities to the possibility of a new variant. From the cases she has been able to examine, she indicates that the symptoms are milder but unusual.

This new variant would rather affect men under the age of 40, who would suffer from extreme fatigue, aches, a dry cough, but without loss of tasteor smell. To date, no patient has had to be hospitalized, even those who were not vaccinated. Note: more than half of the patients she saw were unvaccinated.

This initial information is interesting but not representative. For‘WHO, there is currently no scientific evidence to conclude that the Omicron variant causes symptoms different from other variants. We will have to wait a few weeks to conclude.