Benton County: New Cases: 11, Cumulative Cases: 6,367, Cumulative Deaths: 42
Oregon: New Cases: 900, Cumulative Cases: 404,229, Cumulative Deaths: 5,527
Omicron variant is spreading faster than any other, says WHO
The newest COVID variant may be spreading faster than any other variant, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing that “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.” During the briefing, officials stated that the fast spread of the omicron variant in the United States will cause a massive peak of infections as soon as January.
Omicron has been detected in 77 countries in less than a month after it was officially reported. Oregon confirmed its first three cases of the new variant on Dec. 13 in Washington and Multnomah counties.
Oregon health officials stated that even if the vaccine isn’t completely protective against every new variant, there’s likely to be significant partial protections.
Tedros spoke about what could happen if the variant continues to spread in that way it has been, “even if omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems.”
Despite the increased attention of Omicron, Delta continues to be the main variant circulating in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a release, the CDC stated, “We don’t yet know how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, or how well available vaccines and medications work against it.”
By Jennifer Williams
More About Omicron
The Omicron variant of the COVID virus has arrived in Oregon, and it has proven to be the most contagious variant the world has yet seen with fully vaccinated people being just as likely to catch it as the unvaccinated.
First identified in South Africa, it has created steep increases in cases.
“When Omicron enters a community, the increase in case numbers looks like a vertical line,” Dr. Paul Sax of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said to the New York Times.
Vaccines are helping. A fully vaccinated person may get the virus, but symptoms are more likely to be mild and hospitalizations should be fewer. The high communicability of Omicron leaves the unvaccinated at even higher risk than they were a few weeks ago, which could overwhelm US hospitals.
On the good news front, this new variant has been found to not replicate as efficiently in the lungs as its most recent predecessor – the Delta variant. While scientists are warning against too much optimism, it’s generally thought that this will lead to less acute cases of COVID
There are, however, many in our communities for whom any case of COVID could result in serious illness or death. If you interact with someone with a compromised immune system, be wary about being around them unmasked.
By Sally K Lehman
A Grim Marker
In the US, the COVID death toll passed 800,000 this week. Sadder still, over 200,000 of those deaths came after a vaccine was available.
Worldwide, there have been over 5.3 million deaths to date, and the US accounts for 15% of them. However, of the almost 7.8 billion people in the world, only 4% of them live here.
This means that, if you live in the US right now, you are more likely to die of COVID-19 than anywhere else in the world.
The worldwide death toll is likely higher than this, as many deaths are overlooked as being caused by something else or concealed by some governments.
By Sally K Lehman
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