Just be adding another voice to the choir, but the narrative that "Omicron is super mild" is premature, probably not true in the way most people understand it, and likely to be irrelevant anyway if it's highly infectious.
The idea that Omicron is a milder variant of Covid suits a lot of people, including the corona-sceptics who oppose any measures to control it.
But it's unfair to pin this one on antivaxxers. There are plenty of people who are hoping that Omicron is the fairytale ending to the pandemic, based on popular misunderstandings of evolution.
Poor reporting, bad extrapolation and the WHO's typical disastrous communications have all added to the confusion.
Because of its immune evasion, Omicron causes a lot more breakthrough cases (re-infections or vaxxed infections), and breakthrough cases are usually milder than first-time infections. But before Omicron, most of those people wouldn't even be getting infected!
Others have explained this with better data (@jburnmurdoch) or in remarkably clear language (@thezvi). It's too early to know if Omicron causes more severe infection in naïve people, but given how fast it's spreading, it doesn't NEED to. It can still overwhelm the hospitals.
Evolution is the process by which the fittest genes for the situation survive because they're the ones that get to reproduce themselves most efficiently. It doesn't have needs or desires. It just is.
Genes that help a creature survive until it reproduces are the genes that succeed. Speed, vision, size, venom, flight, intelligence... all of these can make a creature more likely to stay alive long enough to breed.
A species that cares for its young will be more likely to see those same kids breed, so evolution *sometimes* selects for stuff that happens after breeding. But mostly, there's no reason for genes for long post-reproductive life and good health in old age to be selected.
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'
"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?
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.