Intermountain infectious diseases specialist Brandon Webb, MD, chair of Intermountain’s COVID therapeutics committee, shared a COVID-19 update with the community on Friday. Here are Dr. Webb’s answers to some important questions discussed in the update:
How is the omicron variant impacting the world and what can we expect?
“We’re seeing across the country significant increases in case transmission that are now being driven by the omicron variant. That’s consistent with what we now understand about this variant, which is it’s at least two and perhaps three times more transmissible than the delta variant. We’ve seen that throughout Europe, where with a several week head start, most countries are now experiencing significant spikes in the omicron transmission and seeing fewer and fewer cases due to delta … We’re several weeks away from that becoming the dominant strain throughout the United States and in Utah.”
How severe is sickness from omicron compared to what we experienced with the delta variant?
“Early on, data from South Africa gave us some hope that this particular variant may be associated with less severe disease. That very early data have now been supplemented by a much better sample size …. and unfortunately, the hospitalization rate in South Africa and the United Kingdom has now shot up, which effectively demonstrates that the omicron variant likely doesn’t have a lower severity potential than delta does. That’s discouraging because the increased contagiousness of this particular virus is sure to increase cases. And with increased cases, we see increased hospitalizations in especially those groups that are particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes. Those groups include individuals who aren’t fully vaccinated, individuals with health problems and medical complexity, and individuals who have compromised immunity.”
What can we do to prepare?
Get tested early. “We really need to recognize as a community that the symptoms of COVID-19 overlap dramatically with symptoms of other respiratory viruses. We need to test frequently and test early. There have been other states that have successfully adopted widespread availability of rapid testing and we urge policy makers to continue to advance the availability of testing as much as possible.”
Get vaccinated and boosted. “What we do understand right now is that vaccination does protect against omicron in two really important ways. First, immunity of any type, whether from prior infection or from vaccination with the standard two doses significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization, ventilation, and death. However, the reinfection rate in individuals who have had previous COVID infection with delta was very low. With omicron, it’s more than 10 times higher and we now have data released from the United Kingdom that suggest prior infection is about 500% less protective against omicron than it was for delta.
“If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, with omicron on our doorstep, I strongly encourage you to be vaccinated. If you’ve had prior infection and were relying on that for protecting you against further strains, that no longer applies to the omicron variant. We have some new information from researchers in Oregon that shows that if you’ve been fully vaccinated and have a breakthrough infection, the breakthrough infection is a third experience with the virus that significantly enhances the immune system’s ability to protect against another infection. What that means is that for individuals, no matter which way they’ve accomplished that, getting those three touches with the COVID-19 are the most important ways be protected.”
Be careful during holiday gatherings. “We’re looking forward to being together and enjoying the holidays. And while we do that, it’s really important as a community to be responsible, to be cautious about the activities we participate in.”
“Again, the ideal is not to go out and get exposed. The ideal is to safely access vaccines and boosters to decrease the chances of having a severe infection. Individuals who’ve been vaccinated with two doses, I strongly encourage to have the booster dose that helps with the immune cross training and increases the immunity against omicron significantly.”
NOTE: Please refer to Intermountain’s meeting and event guidelines, released September 21, when planning any work gatherings.