⚠️FASTER HOSPITALIZATION WITH #Omicron—Latest data on hospital admissions in London (🇬🇧Omicron epicenter) shows Omicron wave is sending patients to hospitals sooner in 6 days than versus Delta (9-10 days). And the model suggests similar severity, not “milder”.🧵
2) Let’s look at the other 10 day model for new #Omicron — it seems it’s a poor fit to the actual hospitalization data. It’s visible on both the log scale and natural scale that it’s not a good fit.
3) Now let’s for a moment test whether #Omicron is “milder” - half as severe as Delta, but just sent people to hospital faster, but not as often. Does it fit the data well? Not exactly… the latest few days doesn’t jive with that “milder” model.
4) to be clear, the above model is based on total hospitalizations. But we know from South Africa that their hospitalization surging and a bit faster than normal. And separately, most ~90% of the patients that tested positive for #COVID19 were admitted for COVID not other stuff.
5) also check out the crazy DOUBLING TIMES for probable #Omicron (SGTF is a shortcut PCR signal for likely Omicron)— its now just **1.5 days** for doubling in many parts of England!!
6) SHOW MORE PROOF? Denmark 🇩🇰 hospitalization is showing similar **faster hospitalization** phenomenon — notice how hospitalizations rise much faster with #Omicron… much shorter delay to hospital admissions than Delta. 👀
7) People keep forgetting that #DeltaVariant was found to be ~4x **more severe** than the original 2020 strain of #SARSCoV2. There’s several studies that found 3-4x. Thus anyone saying Omicron is “milder” don’t realize even if true (doubtful)— it’s back to Wuhan 1.0 if 4x milder.
New York #COVID19 record cases—deaths are quickly rising too. Broadway shows are cancelling abruptly again. I’m cancelling trips myself. The #Omicron wave will hit hospitals hard—pray for doctors, nurses & respiratory therapists over the holidays. #MaskUp#GetBoosted Stay safe 🙏
2) Just in - @CNN will be closing its US offices to most workers ASAP due to rising cases. I remember when CNN last did this suddenly in spring 2020 as NYC got hit real bad. This is very deja vu. reuters.com/world/us/cnn-c…
3) I’m switching from regular KN95 to N95 now in indoor places with other people— #Omicron is so contagious. Make sure your kids use a minimum KN95 or KF94 or FFP2 mask. I’ve been warning about this for over a year. But I’m upgrading to N95 now— see @projectn95 (no commission).
⚠️BREAKING—Imperial College study finds #Omicron could be **just as severe** as the Delta strain, according to early findings from researchers at Imperial College London.
➡️All those who said “it’s mild” need to think about how many they have endangered. ft.com/content/489316…
2) “The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection,” said the research team, led by Prof Neil Ferguson
3) Moreover, other London hospitalization data shows it could be sending patients to hospitals a bit faster, even if same severity.
MASKS ON AIRPLANES—It is “irresponsible & reckless” for @SouthwestAir CEO @gary_kelly & @AmericanAir CEO to question if masks needed. Airplane✈️ transmission proven, #Omicron is much more contagious, & HEPA filters not running on tarmac! Thx @JeromeAdamsMD
2) airplane spread is shown in this key video below 👇
3) and it’s not true that airplanes always have great HEPA cleaning — all the time parked at the gate - usually no HEPA filtration active @AmericanAir@SouthwestAir!!!
The #Omicron variant is surging in the US exponentially… CDC data shows that New York / New Jersey region is now over 10% Omicron of all #COVID19 cases. The rest of US is not far behind—likely dominant by Christmas 🎄 — please be careful during holidays.
💡New VACCINE RANKING of ability to neutralize #Omicron—Moderna appears to be the strongest against Omicron in this study, but still big drop. Pfizer next best (but we know infection efficacy is 30-34%), AstraZeneca & Sinopharm poor. J&J & Sputnik = zero.🧵biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
2) Natural infection immunity is on the left … “convalescent” = practically no neutralization against #Omicron in this study by itself without vaccine.
3) Meanwhile for SinoVac —one of the world’s most widely used vaccines, doesn’t provide sufficient antibodies to neutralize the #omicron variant, said 🇭🇰 researchers. But a 3rd shot booster seemed up help. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…