Doctors are telling our reporters: This Covid wave is not the same as the last.
An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.) |
 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
|
What doctors are telling us about Omicron |
We're getting more data on Omicron's effects on patients, this time from inside U.S. hospitals. From medical centers across the country, doctors are telling our reporters the same thing: This Covid wave seems different from the last one. |
In Omicron hot spots from New York to Florida to Texas, a smaller share of patients are landing in the intensive care units or requiring mechanical ventilation, my colleagues Azeen Ghorayshi and Emily Anthes report. They tend to stay in the hospital for fewer days and many patients show up at the hospital for other ailments and incidentally test positive for the coronavirus. |
"We are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations," said Rahul Sharma, emergency physician-in-chief for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. But the severity of the disease looks different this time, he said. "Most of our patients that are coming to the emergency department that do test positive are actually being discharged." |
The shift in hospitals fits with emerging data that Omicron may be a variant with inherently milder effects than those that have come before. But another explanation for the less severe cases is that Omicron is infecting more people who have some prior immunity, whether through vaccination or prior infection. Doctors said that a vast majority of Omicron patients in I.C.U.s are unvaccinated or have severely compromised immune systems. |
A new report from Houston suggests a similar pattern. Researchers at the Houston Methodist health care system compared 1,313 symptomatic patients infected with Omicron to patients who had been infected with the Delta or Alpha variants. |
Fewer than 15 percent of the Omicron patients were hospitalized, compared with 43 percent of the Delta patients and 55 percent of the Alpha patients, the study found. Among those who were admitted, Omicron patients were also less likely to need ventilators and had shorter hospital stays. |
Despite the shift in illness severity among patients, hospitals are under enormous strain. Experts warned that the number of I.C.U. patients — a lagging indicator — is likely to rise in the coming weeks. Hospitals also face challenges with staffing and contagion as employees fall ill, doctors said. And the new wave is arriving as some hospitals continue to struggle under the crush of patients from Delta. |
It's also early days. Although the initial accounts are encouraging, there is not yet enough detailed data to draw firm conclusions about Omicron's inherent severity, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta. |
"There hasn't been really quite enough time," Dean said. It took months for numerous large studies of Delta's hospitalization risks to appear. |
Updating the booster calendar |
The agency also recommended that some immunocompromised children ages 5 to 11 receive an additional primary vaccine shot 28 days after the second shot, matching the guidance for people 12 and older with such conditions. (Pfizer's vaccine is the only one authorized for pediatric use in the U.S.) |
The moves come at a time when the fast-spreading Omicron variant is infecting record numbers of people in the U.S. each day. The endorsements also mirror guidance from the F.D.A. announced yesterday. |
The F.D.A. also cleared 12- to 15-year-olds to receive boosters of the Pfizer vaccine. The C.D.C.'s vaccine advisory committee will meet tomorrow to discuss whether to recommend that step. |
The guidance has not changed for when to seek booster shots after receiving the Moderna vaccine (6 months after the second shot) or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (2 months after the single shot). |
Does the pandemic bring added concerns for you? |
Since the outbreak, readers with disabilities or who are immunocompromised have told us about the complications they've been facing. While the world has opened up at various moments, many have been forced to remain in lockdown, or continue to adhere to strict measures to protect themselves or their family members. |
If this sounds familiar, we'd love to hear from you. We're gathering stories from readers with disabilities, those who are immunocompromised, and their loved ones, who'd like to share their experience. If you'd like to participate, you can fill out this form here. We may use your response in an upcoming newsletter. |
What else we're following |
My husband is a C.O.P.D. patient who just turned 81, and he hasn't left the house in two years, except for doctor's appointments. I am his only contact with the outside world, and I do errands and shopping as needed. I live in total fear of the people I encounter who are not wearing masks in the markets! Sometimes I shrink away from them and they get irritated at me, but sometimes I speak up and ask them to put a mask on. We have both had three shots, but if my husband got Covid, he would most likely not survive it. I am quite depressed about not being able to see any friends during these severe surges. My husband is happy to stay home and play his guitars. I play a lot of solitaire on my iPad and read every minute that I am not busy doing errands. We are hoping they will make fourth shots available for high risk people. We will live this way for years if necessary. — Patricia Tornborgh, Aventura, Fla. |
Let us know how you're dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
|
