Jabin said:
The scientists I follow are cautiously optimistic about the SA data, but all agree that it's too limited a data set to extrapolate from it to the entire world.
For example, the growth rate of Omicron in SA is now plummeting. No one is sure why.
Also, could the low death and hospitalization rates in SA be due to factors other than the possible lower severity of Omicron? Such factors might include the age and health of people in SA, prior exposure, etc.
I've noticed that people love to get to the bottom line immediately, but in cases such as widespread disease we, unfortunately, seem to have to wait for the data to get in.
There are other countries with the same data, Denmark, France, the UK.
Maybe Omicron has been spreading much longer than people thought and those with no symptoms or very mild symptoms never got tested. Or maybe people now with mild symptoms aren't getting tested.