50% hospitalizations, 25% ICU and 10% of the deaths vs Delta

🚨GOOD NEWS ALERT:
After adjusting for age, comorbidities, prior infection and vax status, ο *intrinsically* milder than δ. 1/2 the hospitalizations, 1/4 the ICU, and 1/10 of the deaths. This makes unvaxed ο roughly similar to vaxed δ (and a vax will reduce severity even more)... https://t.co/mdhjiyDGT7

— Guy Gadboit (@gadboit) January 11, 2022

California not Africa. 50% hospitalizations compared to delta is going still going to be a ton, California will peak at least 5x number of peak o cases versus delta

Another Doug said:

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California not Africa. 50% hospitalizations compared to delta is going still going to be a ton, California will peak at least 5x number of peak o cases versus delta

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Lol, no clue why I put S Africa, covid brain I suppose.

Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds all the time? I don't understand the concern. The whole point of a hospital is to be used.

Another Doug said:

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California not Africa. 50% hospitalizations compared to delta is going still going to be a ton, California will peak at least 5x number of peak o cases versus delta

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https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/amp/COVID-San-Francisco-staff-shortage-UCSF-16758335.php

San Francisco hospital official says 70% of Covid hospitalizations aren't in because of covid.

Philip J Fry said:

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Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds all the time? I don't understand the concern. The whole point of a hospital is to be used.

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It's an interesting fact, that should have been super obvious before but clearly no one really thought of it. Hospitals might be the most expensive buildings to build, supply, maintain, and staff in the whole world. Of course the aren't built for a lot of extra capacity.

Philip J Fry said:

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Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds all the time? I don't understand the concern. The whole point of a hospital is to be used.

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Good thing the beds self-diagnose, treat, care for, and monitor patients with no human assistance.

More proof that Omicron requires no real need for mitigation and mandates. Obviously, different variants might have a different outcome in the future, but this is how evolution typically works. The dominant strain is the one that kills the least hosts so it can spread at a maximum level. Still blown away that so many places around the country and the world have taken aggressive 2020 approaches to this. Bad strategy as it becomes a way to either scare the hell out of people unnecessarily and/or is tantamount to a boy crying wolf so that when there is a real problem variant, no one listens.

Philip J Fry said:

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Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds all the time? I don't understand the concern. The whole point of a hospital is to be used.

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That's sort of the whole problem. Most hospitals run pretty close to capacity all the time. It's the most economical way to do things. You don't get paid for empty beds, but your costs are pretty much the same. But that's not a good fit for a pandemic with a drastic increase in hospitalizations. There's just nowhere to put all those extra people. That's why the initial plan was to increase "surge capacity" with temporary changes and mobile hospitals with the initial waves of COVID. The problem with delta was less the physical capacity of the hospitals and more to do with staffing. Many staff became ill, and many more were burnt out and left patient care. So we had situations where dozens of beds were emtpy.

Just a tangent. To the original point, we're seeing a ton of Omicron here but much, much less severe illness. It's not holding a candle to last August/September

Capitol Ag said:

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More proof that Omicron requires no real need for mitigation and mandates. Obviously, different variants might have a different outcome in the future, but this is how evolution typically works. The dominant strain is the one that kills the least hosts so it can spread at a maximum level. Still blown away that so many places around the country and the world have taken aggressive 2020 approaches to this. Bad strategy as it becomes a way to either scare the hell out of people unnecessarily and/or is tantamount to a boy crying wolf so that when there is a real problem variant, no one listens.

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Agreed all around. Vaccines are still good mitigation, and they've been freely available since April. This strain is not nearly as bad. Honestly, if this had been the first strain of the pandemic, then it would have been no big deal.

It's also morbidly cool to see virology play out in real time. More contagious, less severe viruses spread better and provide immunity against the more severe strains. So over time, the disease gets less dangerous and you end up with another common cold virus. It's sort of nuts to think that maybe all these dumb cold viruses we have now started as deadly pandemics

Everyone is a vector to spread omicron, with one exception -> those that already had covid do not seem to be a big factor.

DannyDuberstein said:

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Everyone is a vector to spread omicron, with one exception -> those that already had covid do not seem to be a big factor.

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No, the risk of reinfection with Omicron after a prior infection, especially more than 6 months ago, is extremely high.

SanDiegoAg12 said:

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How many vaxxed people do you know getting Covid right now?

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Just about every one of them.

Average Guy said:

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Sapper Redux said:

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Philip J Fry said:

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Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds all the time? I don't understand the concern. The whole point of a hospital is to be used.

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Good thing the beds self-diagnose, treat, care for, and monitor patients with no human assistance.

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Somehow I don't think you understood the statement. An equivalent statement would be:

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"Are hospitals supposed to have tons of empty beds with idle staff waiting by to treat patients who might fill them all the time?"

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The whole point is that minimal excess capacity is going to be a normal condition.

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This. Hospitals have had over a year now to figure out how to operate in these conditions. I don't particularly have any sympathy anymore for overworked doctors/nurses anymore. Especially when they've laid off those that don't want the vaccine that:

1) Doesn't prevent you from getting covid
2) Doesn't prevent you from spreading covid

There are clearly some posters here who very clearly live in a bubble. The vast majority of the world cannot work from home, enjoy touch-free delivery, and enjoy CNN-enduced moral superiority for their "cleanliness" and "virtue."

Viruses will tear through the population GLOBALLY and blaming people for making personal risk choices that you don't like is incredibly arrogant.

There used to be a "pull together" attitude in this country, but that was corrupted into an "us vs them" attitude by folks who misbelieve that it's possible to stop an airborne virus or that this virus is an existential threat worthy of any and all sacrifices.

With each variant (and especially Omicron), the failings of that selfish perspective become more apparent. To demand that others forego living a social or meaningful life - when they're neither sick nor at high risk - is in fact an extreme position.

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There used to be a "pull together" attitude in this country, but that was corrupted into an "us vs them" attitude by folks who misbelieve that it's possible to stop an airborne virus or that this virus is an existential threat worthy of any and all sacrifices.

With each variant (and especially Omicron), the failings of that selfish perspective become more apparent. To demand that others forego living a social or meaningful life - when they're neither sick nor at high risk - is in fact an extreme position.

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It seems to me that the extremes of both sides have a selfish perspective.

Living a normal life isn't selfish.

Coates said:

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Living a normal life isn't selfish.

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Sure it can be - anytime one fails to take into account others, it's selfish.

Sorry, but that doesn't make sense. There is no personal responsibility anymore. If you're high risk you can take whatever precautions you need, covid did not change that.

By your logic smokers, people who are obese, etc are selfish because their poor health decision drive up insurance rates and take up hospital beds when they become ill from years of smoking and obesity.

Jabin said:

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Coates said:

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Living a normal life isn't selfish.

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Sure it can be - anytime one fails to take into account others, it's selfish.

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Well then I'd suggest we start outlawing a massive amount of social habits/behaviors that exist with or without covid. No, living a normal life is not selfish. It's entirely up to each individual to assess their own risk and mitigate accordingly.

Take it to another thread. This one is for good news out of SA.

Well, let's look at your hypothetical. That's entirely up to your hypothetical 24 year old and his hypothetical grandmother. When it comes to society at large and going out in public, a decent percentage of the choices we make have the potential to impact someone else in some way. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. I'm vaccinated, my choice. I have zero issue with those who are not, their choice. I've had this bug twice and I'll likely get it again. I'm not going to alter my life in public anymore. If I know I've been exposed or if I've been in a setting where a number of people around me likely had it, then I will keep my distance from people like my 76 year old father.

But I am absolutely not getting engaged in this civil conflict we have in this country right now pitting the so called
"unclean and selfish" against the "righteous". 2+ years in to this ordeal, and it's past time to get back to "you do you".