In a study published in Nature, a research team has shown that the BA.2 subvariant of omicron is similar to BA.1 in both the severity of illness it causes and in its ability to cause infection.
BA.2 is the dominant subvariant of Omicron in nearly seven dozen countries. The study’s findings stand in contrast to an earlier study that relied on recombinant virus bearing spike proteins from BA.1 and BA.2.
“That study indicated BA.2 may be more pathogenic than BA.1,” said Prof Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who led the present study. “But when we used authentic virus, we found that BA.2 is not more pathogenic.”
Prof Kawaoka and research associate professor and co-author Peter Halfmann, said that their findings suggest that other parts of the omicron virus may attenuate the pathogenicity of its spike proteins alone.
Relying on rodent models for the disease, researchers and their collaborators tested viruses isolated from human samples. Both subvariants of omicron caused less severe illness compared to earlier strains, including delta and the original wild strain of the virus.
The study team also found that existing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs remain effective against BA.2.
However, plasma from vaccinated people and from people who recovered from earlier infections was less effective at neutralising both subvariants of omicron compared to earlier virus strains, and plasma from people infected with BA.1 was less effective at neutralising BA.2.
But the researchers also found that plasma from people who were vaccinated and then infected with BA.1 or earlier variants exhibited a smaller decrease in effectiveness against BA.2.
“If you’re vaccinated and then infected, you’re protected against many different variants,” said Prof Kawaoka, especially compared to prior infection alone or vaccination alone.
The researchers are now testing the newest sub-variants of omicron, including BA.2.12.1, which has begun to rapidly spread in New York state.
Even as the structure of SARS-CoV-2 changes with different variants of the virus (grey), the J08 antibody (blue) can still bind it, Scripps researchers showed. Credit: Scripps Research
Scientists have revealed the secrets of a potent antibody against SARS-CoV-2 that was discovered in COVID survivors. The antibody has a broadly neutralising effect, and is able to retain its efficacy against a wide range of variants – though not Omicron.
In 2021, Scripps Research and Toscana Life Sciences scientists screened the blood of 14 COVID-19 survivors to find the most potent antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One of the most promising finds, now in stage II/III trials, was an antibody dubbed J08, which seemed to be capable of both preventing and treating COVID.
Now, the same group has visualised exactly how J08 binds to different SARS-CoV-2 variants in different conformations, explaining what makes the monoclonal antibody so potent. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the J08 antibody’s flexibility will likely keep it effective against future COVID variants.
“Even though we can’t predict what variants of COVID will emerge next, understanding the details of J08 reveals what works against the virus, and perhaps how we can engineer antibodies to be even more potent,” explained senior author Andrew Ward, PhD at Scripps Research.
On exposure to a virus like SARS-CoV-2, the body creates a variety of antibodies that bind to different sections of the virus to clear it from the body. There is considerable interest in why certain naturally produced antibodies such as J08 more effective than others. In the months after Ward and his collaborators first identified J08, it became clear that the antibody, unlike many others, was potent against a variety of COVID variants.
The researcher mapped the three-dimensional structure of J08 as it bound to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. J08 was confirmed to successfully attach to the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants, preventing replication. However, J08 attached to the Omicron variant about 7 times more slowly, and then quickly detached. About 4000 times more J08 was needed to fully neutralise Omicron SARS-CoV-2 compared to the other variants.
“With variants other than Omicron, this antibody binds quickly and doesn’t come off for hours and hours,” says co-first author Gabriel Ozorowski, a senior staff scientist in the Ward lab at Scripps Research. “With Omicron, we were initially happy to find that it still binds, but it falls off very quickly. We identified the two structural changes that cause this.”
The team showed that, for all the variants, J08 binds to a very small section of the virus – a section that generally stays the same even as the virus mutates. Moreover, J08 could attach in two completely different orientations, like a key that manages to unlock a door whether it is right side up or upside down.
“This small, flexible footprint is part of why J08 is able to withstand so many mutations – they don’t impact the antibody binding unless they happen to be in this one very small part of the virus,” said co-first author Jonathan Torres, lab manager of the Ward lab at Scripps Research.
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, however, had two mutations (known as E484A and Q493H) that changed the small area of the virus that directly interfaces with J08, anchoring it in place. Ward and his collaborators found that if just one of these mutations is present, J08 can still bind and neutralise the virus strongly, but mutations in both are what make it less effective against the Omicron variant.
The researchers said the new results support the continued clinical trials of the monoclonal antibody based on J08.
“I think we’re pretty confident that future variants won’t necessarily have both of these two critical mutations at the same time like Omicron,” remarked Ozorowski, “so that makes us hopeful that J08 will continue being very effective.”
A South African-led study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown that two doses of the Pfizer or the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine are equally effective against severe COVID caused by the omicron variant.
The omicron variant has been shown to escape antibody neutralisation by both the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA and the Johnson & Johnson adenovirus viral vector vaccine, the only two COVID vaccines available in South Africa. As of May 1, 44.8% of adults in South Africa had been fully vaccinated. Assessing vaccine effectiveness is critical for national vaccine programs.
Starting in October 2021, health care workers who were participating in phase 3b of the Sisonke study of the early vaccine access program were eligible to receive a second dose of the J&J vaccine. Discovery Health data was accessed for Pfizer vaccine effectiveness. Severe COVID was defined as hospitalisation or admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) or to high care.
Vaccine effectiveness was compared between the two vaccine groups according to the number of days since the second vaccine dose had been administered. However longer follow-ups were not available for the J&J group as booster had been initiated later for them.
PCR results were analysed from participants who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine given at least 42 days apart or two doses of the J&J vaccine given 4 to 6 months apart. Among these participants, the test positivity rate was 34%; of those with a positive PCR test, 1.6% had been admitted to a hospital and 0.5% to an ICU or to high care.
Effectiveness against hospitalisation in the J&J group, was found to be 55% within 13 days after the second dose, 74% at 14 to 27 days, and 72% at 1 to 2 months. For the Pfizer group, the vaccine’s effectiveness was 81% within 13 days after the second dose, 88% at 14 to 27 days, 70% at 1 to 2 months, 71% at 3 to 4 months, and 67% at > 5 months. Among J&J vaccine recipients, the vaccine effectiveness against ICU admission or high care was 69% at 14 to 27 days and 82% at 1 to 2 months after the second dose; among the Pfizer recipients, effectiveness against ICU admission or high care was 70% at 1 to 2 months, 73% at 3 to 4 months, and 71% at > 5 months.
Gray et al concluded, “After two doses, both vaccines were equally effective against severe disease caused by the omicron variant. These estimates of vaccine effectiveness were calculated in a South African population with a high background prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 exposure during the Covid-19 pandemic. These data provide reassurance about the continued value of the national Covid-19 vaccine program during a surge in the omicron variant.”
SARS-CoV-2 lineages. Credit: Professor Ryan Gregory, University of Guelph
A paper published May 1 on the medRxiv preprint server on two new sub-lineages of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5, reported evidence that they may escape immunity conferred by previous BA.1 infection. The study’s authors suggest that this immune escape potential may drive another wave of infections.
In recent weeks, the BA.4 and BA.5 variants have been detected circulating in South Africa, and are close descendants of the Omicron BA.2 lineage.
Researchers isolated live BA.4 and BA.5 viruses and tested their ability to evade infection to 24 participants who had been infected with BA.1 but unvaccinated and 15 vaccinated participants with breakthrough BA.1 infection.
In unvaccinated individuals, FRNT50, the inverse of the dilution for 50% neutralisation, declined from 275 for BA.1 to 36 for BA.4 and 37 for BA.5, a 7.6 and 7.5-fold drop, respectively. In vaccinated BA.1 breakthroughs, FRNT50 declined from 507 for BA.1 to 158 for BA.4 (3.2-fold) and 198 for BA.5 (2.6-fold). Absolute BA.4 and BA.5 neutralisation levels were about 5-fold higher in this group versus unvaccinated BA.1 infected participants.
The observed escape of BA.4 and BA.5 from immunity elicited by BA.1 was more moderate than of BA.1 against previous immunity, the researchers found. The researchers warned that the low absolute neutralisation levels for BA.4 and BA.5, particularly in the unvaccinated group, are unlikely to protect well against symptomatic infection. They suggest that, based on neutralisation escape, BA.4 and BA.5 have potential to result in a new infection wave.
Experts warn however that even these sub-lineages are unlikely to be the last, with plenty of potential remaining for new mutations.
Professor of evolutionary biology T. Ryan Gregory at the University of Guelph, Canada, laid out in a series of tweets that these new sub-lineages are not the final “Pokemon” evolution of SARS-CoV-2. He warned that with all of the replication that is still going on, the virus is still mutating rapidly, especially around the Spike protein, and thus is capable of producing new variants.
Alpha and Delta, which drove two major waves around the world with high levels of mortality, did not give rise to Omicron, but now the variants of concern are increasingly emerging from within the Omicron clade. Prof Gregory noted that a growing number of variants are being seen with transmission or immune escape advantages.
“Sorry to say it, but this pandemic isn’t over,” he concluded.
South Africa is now on the cusp of a fifth wave, experts warn, as indicators rise and new variants begin to circulate. Social media monitoring indicates a level of public apathy.
After a period of reduced cases, cases rose for three consecutive days, prompting concern. Health Department deputy director-general, Nicholas Crisp, noted possible explanations.
“It may be associated with one of the sub-variants of Omicron, certainly that is what’s dominant at the moment but it also might be just because we are all a bit lax at the moment, we don’t wear our masks so diligently,” he said.
Crisp said that they would be watching the data closely, before pronouncing on whether this was indeed the start of the fifth wave.
“We are not sure if this is the variant that’s going to do whatever is going to happen in the fifth wave, what we are seeing at the moment is what we call a flare-up,” Crisp said.
Wastewater monitoring has seen an uptick in coronavirus levels, according to the NICD’s weekly brief [PDF]. The BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants have been observed but it is not clear what impact they will have on the fifth wave. The Delta variant has been sequenced in wastewater, but the significance of this is still unclear.
Gauteng has reported the highest weekly incidence at 27.4 per 100 000 people, followed by Western Cape (23.4 per 100 000), and KwaZulu-Natal (13.4 per 100 000). However, testing rates are down in a number of provinces. The highest incidence is among young teenagers.
As of 25 April, 1954 new cases with a 19.3% positivity rate were recorded by the NICD.
The Health Department’s Vaccine Social Listening progamme has seen a significant drop in engagement across social media, down by 50% on Twitter, 60% on Facebook. Engagements with digital news articles are down 70%. Fears over a fifth wave have been dismissed on social media as “fear mongering” and there is a belief that “covid-19 is over”.
Business Leadership South Africa chief executive Busi Mavuso said the fifth wave will test the government’s new COVID regulations.
Writing in her weekly open letter, Mavuso noted South Africa is currently in the 30 day transition period from the end of the state of disaster on 5 April and the new National Health Act regulations.
She noted some risk, with mistakes from earlier regulations being built upon. However, increased background immunity levels was credited with the reduced impact of the Omicron wave in hospitalisation and deaths. Based on the assumption that the new wave will be less impactful, economically damaging measures can be avoided.
Mavuso added that the previous waves have proven that the country can find the best balance in managing the pandemic and the economy if there is full consultation so that the consequences of regulations can be understood and planned for. “I look forward to engaging our public sector counterparts to find that balance.”
Wits University’s Professor Shabir Madhi said that with a clear increase in cases, the country was on the cusp of a resurgence. The country will however be much better positioned with higher immunity levels and a demonstrated decoupling of infections and disease severity.
Further lockdowns would likely be unnecessary, given how past lockdowns have repeatedly failed.
In an interview with 702, CSIR senior researcher Dr Ridhwaan Suliman warned that 20% of South Africans still do not have any immunity to COVID, either from vaccination or prior infection. Since the start of the pandemic in South Africa, he has been tweeting his graphs of infections and explaining the science to the public.
Explaining the figure, he said: “It’s an extrapolation of recent research studies that show sero-prevalence levels across the country, up to about 80% currently. That means levels of immunity of people having previous infections, so natural immunity, plus acquired immunity through vaccination. So based on the 80% sero-prevalence levels, it means there’s still 20% that are susceptible… and 20% of South Africa’s population leaves 12 million people who don’t have levels of immunity or sero-prevalence currently.”
This number is however greatly increased from a previous survey conducted in January 2021, which reported a 19.1% rate.
He pointed out that this leave South Africa with a large number of people who are immune-naïve to COVID, who are therefore at risk of more severe consequences such as hospitalisation and death. However, the high levels of immunity means that, as seen in the Omicron wave, outcomes are reduced in severity.
Interviewer Bruce Whitfield asked Dr Suliman his opinion of prospective waves, as evidenced by increasing infections in countries like the US and China, and indeed, his own observations of queues starting to build up outside mobile COVID testing stations.
Dr Suliman replied that although the infections have been driven by the highly transmissible Omicron B.A.2 variant which is also dominant in South Africa, it “hasn’t resulted in a further uptick or resurgence following our fourth wave of the original Omicron strain, and so we’re currently in an ‘inter-wave’ period with low levels of transmission.”
He says that the situation is encouraging, with hospitalisations at their lowest levels seen since before the first wave in May 2020, but that this is still an inter-wave period.
Regarding when the fifth wave would be, Dr Suliman pointed out that each of the previous four waves “have been very cyclical or regular, with three months in between each wave.” Based on this, he said that he expects another wave is likely around the end of April or beginning of May.
However, he said that this should not be looked on with fear “because even with a surge in high levels of infection we do have high levels of population immunity which we hope will continue, and we will have less severe outcomes of hospitalisation and death even with those high levels.”
After a staggering increase of R24.9 billion in claims from COVID, South African life insurers are faced with little option but to implement a premium hike on policies for the unvaccinated. Death rates among unvaccinated people could remain elevated even as the pandemic eases, despite the lower severity of Omicron.
The Association for Savings and Investment SA (Asisa) provided death claims data from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021, a period which covered the third COVID wave (May to September). Compared to the same pre-pandemic period in 2019, there was a 53% surge in claims was reported, with a more than doubling of value of death claims. There were 565 522 claims, totalling R44.42 billion, compared to the pre-pandemic period’s 369 892 claims of R19.53 billion.
Though deaths were greatly reduced in the fourth wave, with Asisa acknowledging “anecdotal evidence” showing reduced severity from the Omicron variant, there was still “overwhelming evidence” that COVID mortality risks are far higher for the unvaccinated. Asisa’s data reflects that of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), which shows a huge increase in the number of excess deaths over that period.
This information comes as the government debates easing lockdown measures even as various institutions warn of an impending fifth wave, which according to Absa bank could come as early as next month. However, Absa noted that its life claims were much reduced over the fourth wave as compared to the third, and therefore expects the fifth wave to be less severe.
Hennie de Villiers, the deputy chair of Asisa’s life and risk board committee, said that the importance of life insurance cover had been clearly demonstrated. “The reality is that most of us know at least one person who lost his or her life due to COVID. We also know of many more people who lost their income during the pandemic, highlighting the importance of having access to savings.”
He cautioned that, “While the death rate has been lower during the fourth wave than in previous waves due to vaccinations and the emergence of the Omicron variant, death claims rates have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. Also, less than 50% of our adult population has been vaccinated.
“There is overwhelming evidence that the risk of severe illness or death is significantly lower in those who are fully vaccinated.”
He added in a later statement that if the situation does not change and vaccinations are not embraced by the country, insurers may have “little choice but to adjust premiums in line with the higher risk presented by someone who is not vaccinated and therefore more likely to die from COVID”.
De Villiers said a “staggering” 1.59-million death claims were received in the 18 months from 1 April 2020 to 30 September, with life insurers paying out benefits of R92 billion.
Group life insurance premiums have already increased for the unvaccinated, De Villiers pointed out. Employers with mandatory vaccination policies are meanwhile benefitting from preferential rates.
When unvaccinated status is combined with age and comorbidities, premium increases, this resulted in premium increases of as much as 100% and in some cases coverage was even declined.
According to a large study published in The BMJ, mRNA vaccines are highly effective in preventing COVID hospital admissions related to the alpha, delta, and omicron variants. However, three doses are needed to achieve similar protection against omicron that two doses provide against delta and alpha.
The results also show that, although severity of disease among patients admitted to hospital is lower with the omicron versus delta variant, patients with omicron are still at risk of critical illness and death.
In order to guide vaccination policies and development of new vaccines, it is essential to understand COVID variants and vaccine efficacy.
Early studies suggested reduced vaccine effectiveness against infection and hospital admissions for omicron compared with earlier variants, but little is known about the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent the most severe manifestations of COVID, including respiratory failure and death, for patients with infection due to the omicron variant.
To address this, the researchers assessed COVID severity in the alpha, delta, and omicron variants among hospitalised adults and compared the effectiveness of two and three doses of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) in preventing hospital admissions related to each variant.
Their findings are based on 11 690 adults admitted to 21 hospitals across the United States between March 2021 and January 2022: 5728 cases with COVID and 5962 controls without COVID.
Patients were classified into alpha, delta or omicron based on viral gene sequencing or by the predominant circulating variant at the time of hospital admission.
Effectiveness of two doses of an mRNA vaccine to prevent COVID hospital admission was found to be lower for the omicron variant than alpha and delta variants (65%, 85%, and 85%, respectively), whereas three doses were found to achieve 86% effectiveness against the omicron variant, similar to two doses against the alpha and delta variants.
Among unvaccinated adults hospitalised with COVID, the delta variant was associated with the most severe disease, followed by the alpha variant and then the omicron variant.
The omicron variant was, however, associated with substantial critical illness and death, with 15% of patients admitted to hospital with the omicron variant (vaccinated and unvaccinated) progressing to invasive mechanical ventilation, and 7% dying in hospital.
Nevertheless, vaccinated patients hospitalised with COVID had significantly less sever disease than unvaccinated patients across all variants.
As an observational study, cause cannot be established, and some variant misclassification may have occurred. Changes in clinical management during the periods when the alpha, delta, and omicron variants predominated were not accounted for. These could have affected outcomes, the researchers acknowledged.
Nevertheless, this was a large study with rigorous evaluation of vaccination status and of outcomes beyond hospital admission, suggesting that the results are robust.
As such, they say that mRNA vaccines “were associated with strong protection against hospital admissions with COVID due to the alpha, delta, and omicron variants” and that vaccination against COVID including a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, “is critical for protecting populations against COVID-associated morbidity and mortality.”
They concluded: “As the COVID pandemic continues to evolve, routine monitoring of vaccine effectiveness, especially against severe disease, and surveillance programmes to identify viral variants will be essential to inform decisions about booster vaccine policies and vaccine strain updates.”
Commenting on a recently published South African study showing a high COVID antibody sero-prevalence and decoupling of hospitalisation and death rates, first author Professor Shabir Madhi said that “we [are] no longer at “code red’.”
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted in Gauteng from October 22 to December 9, 2021, showed a high sero-positivity rate even as the Omicron wave started. Under-12s (56%) had the lowest rate of sero-positivity, while it was 80% in over-50s and 85% in inner city residents. Unsurprising, vaccinated individuals had much higher rates (93%) than unvaccinated ones (68%). Epidemiologic data showed that the incidence of COVID infection increased and subsequently declined more rapidly during the fourth wave than it had during the three previous waves.
The researchers imputed 10.4 million infections, compared to the <1 million COVID cases recorded before Omicron. The researchers also evaluated COVID epidemiologic trends in the province, including cases, hospitalisations, recorded deaths, and excess deaths from the start of the pandemic through January 12, 2022.
At time of Omicron wave onset, 59159 Covid attributable deaths using excess mortality data (rate 396/100,000) in Gauteng. Infection fatality risk for Gauteng 0.57% pre-omicron (substantially higher than 0.019% imputed for seasonal flu pre-Covid calculated using similar methods).
In Gauteng at the start of the Omicron wave. vaccine coverage 36% for at least 1 dose in Gauteng, but 61% in over-50s (responsible for >80% deaths pre-Omicron). The sero-survey showed that, 70% of vaccinated were also infected pre-omicron, indiciating a substantial prevalence of hybrid immunity
Prof Madhi further noted analysis of the incidence trends shows a “massive decoupling” of COVID cases to hospitalisation and death rates over the course of Omicron dominance, which was seen in all age groups. Omicron was responsible for only 3% of COVID deaths compared to 50% for those in Delta-dominant waves. In the 50-59 age group, Omicron was responsible for only 2% of deaths compared to 53% of Delta-dominant deaths.
They also found that children under 12 were not seriously affected during the Omicron wave, with the Omicron wave making up 26% of hospitalisations and 17% of deaths versus 39% and 47%, respectively with the Delta wave.
The researchers concluded that the SA experience indicates that we are now moving into the convalescent phase of the COVID pandemic. Prof Madhi noted in his tweets that this is likely to be similar in other countries that have had a low or modest vaccine uptake, but which have also seen high rates of natural infection – which, in low- and middle-income countries, has likely been accompanied by significant under-reporting of COVID fatalities.
Given low rates of vaccine rollout and donations, Africa should focus on vaccinating its vulnerable elderly population, Prof Madhi recommended.
He tweeted that SA had expressed optimism that the pandemic had reached a turning point “which many in high income countries dismissed as ’empirical’ and not applicable to their settings despite high vaccine coverage,” subsequently materialised around the world wherever COVID was “not [a] zero-sum game.”
In stark contrast to South Africa’s approach to COVID and the country’s experts characterising Omicron as “mild”, US experts have said that calling it “mild” ignores the harsh situation their country faces: record hospitalisations, sick children, other conditions being worsened by COVID, and staff shortages.
While Omicron’s odds of causing a person’s hospitalisation or death are lower, US numbers suggest that Omicron is, in fact, serious on a population level.
“What’s mild about hospitals at or near the breaking point? What’s mild about hundreds of healthcare workers per hospital out ill with COVID? What’s mild about 1.3 million cases in the U.S. just yesterday? What’s mild about the rising titer of burnout? What’s mild about an unprecedented number of children now ill and hospitalised with COVID?” Clyde Yancy, MD, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, wrote in an email to MedPage Today.
“I think prudence would suggest that we reframe ‘mild’ and think more about ‘self-limited,'” he added. “We are likely at or near a plateau but how long will it last and how much more agony awaits?”
Americans were hospitalised in record numbers last week. “When there are many more people sick in large numbers – in millions – even if it’s a smaller percentage that’s going to be severely sick, that is going to result in large numbers in the hospitals,” said Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
While Omicron is still a threat for those unvaccinated or without previous infection, its high breakthrough rate is a cause for concern, especially in vulnerable people.
“Individuals who have breakthroughs after being vaccinated, including the elderly who have comorbid heart disease, are now flooding our emergency departments with decompensated cardiovascular diagnoses and a positive coronavirus test,” said cardiologist Jim Januzzi, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
As well as buckling healthcare systems, vulnerable and overlooked populations are being affected by Omicron even more.
Paediatric hospitalisations in the US reached a new peak in mid-January, with 20% of the entire pandemic’s hospitalisations of children happening in just two weeks in January. Over 1000 children have died from COVID by the CDC’s numbers, including 359 under five.
Moreover, patients on immunosuppressive medications may be less protected by the vaccines. “The labelling of the Omicron infection as ‘mild’ overlooks the important features and the messaging to the public,” rheumatologist Vaidehi Chowdhary, MBBS, MD, DM, of Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, wrote in an email to MedPage Today.
“Some patients who are on strong immunosuppressive medications do not have adequate vaccine titers and remain vulnerable,” she said, pointing out that there’s a shortage of monoclonal antibodies and antivirals, which means that this group must take extra precautions to ensure they aren’t infected in the first place.
Omicron’s impact on those who are immunosuppressed or have long COVID is not yet known, Dr Chowdhary noted. “For immunosuppressed patients, to minimise infections, many in-person appointments have been converted to telehealth or elective procedures deferred. The impact of these practices and their impact on overall patient health are not known.”
People living with disabilities and chronic illnesses continue to be faced with worsened infections, delaying consultations and difficulty accessing healthcare.
Then there are those whose infection has exacerbated their condition, whatever it may be. Omicron could be the thing that tips them over the edge, or that keeps them in the hospital for longer, experts have said. Examples seen include patients with blood clots having those clots exacerbated by COVID, and COVID-positive trauma patients having complications and longer recovery times.
Healthcare workers falling ill due to Omicron has seriously stressed US healthcare, with staff shortages have been reported in almost 20% of the country’s hospitals, leaving their already overworked colleagues to work extra.
Dr Januzzi’s hospital has been “completely full, with a huge number of individuals with COVID. So, we’re really at a breaking point where staff are getting sick. Patients and physicians alike are exhausted … the hope would be that we can get through this time and get to the other side of this.”
