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Another CoVid Wave IS Coming
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/N4qAzhE8v9s
The OmicronBA.2 subvariant is spreading rapidly, and it will trigger another wave, actually a tsunami, of CoVid cases. I am here to warn you, not to scare you, but if a 4 alarm siren is what you need, so be it.
I’ve been talking about this OmicronBA.2 subvariant for several weeks now as it has been spreading around Europe and is wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and mainland China. This subvariant has a transmissability factor, a so-called R0, of about 12. This puts the OmicronBA.2 in a class with the most infectious virus known to man, the measles virus, with R0s ranging from 12 to 18. OmicronBA.2 is easy to catch, even outdoors, in a crowd, and certainly indoors.
But wait, I’m vaccinated and boosted you say. So am I, and I continue to be worried. Why? Because, the protective antibodies triggered by even the best of our Covid vaccines, the mRNA Pfizer and Moderna, don’t protect against OmicronBA.2 that well, say only about 40-50%, and the protection they do offer wanes quickly over a 3 month period. They work better against serious or deadly CoVid, but there is a debate about how well. The study I’m reporting this week from NYC’s Cornell states 70-80% protection that jumps to 90% after a boost. Sounds good, but an Israeli study just published in the New England Journal looking at healthcare workers who received not one but two boosts, 4 shots of either Pfizer or Moderna, only enjoyed 11-30% protection against any infection and only 31-43% prevention against symptomatic disease.
Meanwhile, federal, state and local governments, even here in NY, and businesses are throwing precautions to the wind. Indoor masking and vaccination requirements are being cancelled. On the streets, few are wearing masks in crowds and many, many are eating indoors in restaurants. Given that the concentrations of highly infectious virus are on the rise, that’s dangerous.
I’m here to warn you to be smarter than they are. Make sure you’re vaccinated and boosted and try to have had a recent booster within the past 3-4 months if possible. Assume, though, that you’re not going to have much help from the vaccine in preventing a CoVid infection. And you don’t want that since many CoVid infections spawn Long CoVid and we’re just beginning to catalog the horrors of that affliction.
Act like we’re back in the pre-vaccine era but with a far more infectious CoVid virus since that’s the fact. Avoid indoor activities and forget about indoor dining. Mask indoors and outdoors in crowds especially if the winds are calm. Assume that you can pick up OmicronBA2 from surfaces, so wash your hands and decontaminate packages coming from the outside.
Please listen to this heads up and take action. Mark my words—- you ain’t seen nothing yet!
https://w
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By Howard G. Smith MD, AM
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/N4qAzhE8v9s
The OmicronBA.2 subvariant is spreading rapidly, and it will trigger another wave, actually a tsunami, of CoVid cases. I am here to warn you, not to scare you, but if a 4 alarm siren is what you need, so be it.
I’ve been talking about this OmicronBA.2 subvariant for several weeks now as it has been spreading around Europe and is wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and mainland China. This subvariant has a transmissability factor, a so-called R0, of about 12. This puts the OmicronBA.2 in a class with the most infectious virus known to man, the measles virus, with R0s ranging from 12 to 18. OmicronBA.2 is easy to catch, even outdoors, in a crowd, and certainly indoors.
But wait, I’m vaccinated and boosted you say. So am I, and I continue to be worried. Why? Because, the protective antibodies triggered by even the best of our Covid vaccines, the mRNA Pfizer and Moderna, don’t protect against OmicronBA.2 that well, say only about 40-50%, and the protection they do offer wanes quickly over a 3 month period. They work better against serious or deadly CoVid, but there is a debate about how well. The study I’m reporting this week from NYC’s Cornell states 70-80% protection that jumps to 90% after a boost. Sounds good, but an Israeli study just published in the New England Journal looking at healthcare workers who received not one but two boosts, 4 shots of either Pfizer or Moderna, only enjoyed 11-30% protection against any infection and only 31-43% prevention against symptomatic disease.
Meanwhile, federal, state and local governments, even here in NY, and businesses are throwing precautions to the wind. Indoor masking and vaccination requirements are being cancelled. On the streets, few are wearing masks in crowds and many, many are eating indoors in restaurants. Given that the concentrations of highly infectious virus are on the rise, that’s dangerous.
I’m here to warn you to be smarter than they are. Make sure you’re vaccinated and boosted and try to have had a recent booster within the past 3-4 months if possible. Assume, though, that you’re not going to have much help from the vaccine in preventing a CoVid infection. And you don’t want that since many CoVid infections spawn Long CoVid and we’re just beginning to catalog the horrors of that affliction.
Act like we’re back in the pre-vaccine era but with a far more infectious CoVid virus since that’s the fact. Avoid indoor activities and forget about indoor dining. Mask indoors and outdoors in crowds especially if the winds are calm. Assume that you can pick up OmicronBA2 from surfaces, so wash your hands and decontaminate packages coming from the outside.
Please listen to this heads up and take action. Mark my words—- you ain’t seen nothing yet!
https://w