"Omicron is super mild" is a narrative that's already bedded in, despite basically no evidence to support it — partly because of wishful thinking and partly due to misleading tweets like this one:
* Omicron is still very new: most people who have it are still early in their disease course
* Omicron in SA is spreading in kids and young people first, so you wouldn't expect severe cases in these groups.
* Despite what @PoliticsForAlI claims, Covid hospitalizations are up in SA, and almost all of these are Omicron cases.
* A very high number of South Africans have already had Covid, so we might be seeing milder infection in reinfected people?
And yeah, the original tweet was shared by @piersmorgan to his almost 8M followers.
I really HOPE Omicron causes milder infection than Delta did. It's just too early to say one way or another yet.
As usual, the WHO's terrible communication is making things worse. Yes, "most Omicron cases are mild". Most Delta cases were mild, too. Same for most Alpha cases.
The question is "Is Omicron milder than other variants" and that's what we don't know yet. news.sky.com/story/covid-19…
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Omicron in Israel: Latest case data from the Health Ministry. This is based on a small number of cases so care should be taken in drawing broad conclusions about infectivity etc. That said, here goes—
Israel has 7 confirmed Omicron cases. These are:
1. woman (vaxxed with 2xAZ) who returned from Malawi 2. Woman (vaxxed+boosted Pfizer) who returned from SA 3. Doctor (vaxxed+boosted Pfizer) who returned from medical conference in London 4-7 Four unvaxxed ppl who came from SA.
Another 27 Covid cases are "highly suspected" to have Omicron. I'm guessing that means S-gene dropout detected but no genetic typing done yet. Of these:
*5 were 'protected' (ie within the last 6 months they were vaxxed, boosted or recovered)
* 22 were not 'protected'
Israel's Channel 12 reported the Israeli Health Ministry's initial assessment of Omicron based on data given to them by the South African health authorities. This data is at best preliminary and I have a lot of questions. Sharing with appropriate caveats:
Per this report, 3 vax doses (2+booster) provide:
* 90% protection against Omicron infection vs 95% effectiveness against Delta
* Similar level of protection against severe disease in Omicron and Delta
THIS IS VERY PRELIMINARY DATA -- DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IT CHANGES
Per this report, unvaxxed people who have recovered from past infection with another Covid variant are *double* as likely to catch Omicron as they were to catch Delta.
THIS IS VERY PRELIMINARY DATA -- DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IT CHANGES
Lin Wood (here shared by GhostEzra) suggests that the Q postings might be a Flynn-inspired CIA psy-op. Could we see a major faction of the movement we call "QAnon" rejecting Q?
A part of the online MAGA movement always claimed that the Q postings were a CIA op to distract and disempower "patriots" with false claims that there was a plan.
Meanwhile, 'old' QAnon influencers are losing ground. This post denouncing Lin on WTM is filled with comments defending him (or saying the whole argument is staged, of course)
Israel has identified four cases of the B.1.1.529 variant, all recent travellers. One case, a 32-year-old woman returning from South Africa, was triple vaccinated with Pfizer and had her 3rd dose just two months ago.
Another, a hotel worker from Malawi, had her second dose of AZ in mid-July. A third had her second J&J dose two months ago.
No reports yet if these people are suffering from any symptoms at all; all travelers are screened with PCR tests on arrival, which is how they were identified.
Morgellons or a Great Reset? HCQ or Just the Flu? Today's Hat Tip is a spotter's guide of the different types of Covid conspiracy theorist. arieh.substack.com/p/covid-conspi…
If you’re having a big family Thanksgiving meal, you can try to put your Covid Conspiracist family members into one or more of the categories in the Guide. Though I recommend doing this in your head, not publicly at the dinner table.
For example, some people think Covid the disease a hoax and all the sick people are just reclassified flu victims or invented altogether. Other people, though, think the disease is real but it's caused by something else.
Jury deadlocked on the most important claims in the civil case against the organisers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Judge will call in the jury for an "Allen charge" to convince them to decide one way or another.