More studies suggest reduced risk of Covid-19 hospitalization from Omicron than from Delta

More studies suggest reduced risk of Covid-19 hospitalization from Omicron than from Delta

 

Two preprint papers posted last week are adding to the growing evidence that the Omicron coronavirus variant may be less likely to cause severe disease and hospitalization compared with the Delta variant.   Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of Covid-19 hospitalization compared with Delta, one study suggests.   Another paper suggests that people with Omicron infections have 80% lower odds of being admitted to the hospital compared with Delta infections. But once a patient was hospitalized, there was no difference in the risk of severe disease, according to that research, based out of South Africa.   Separate preliminary data out of the United Kingdom has shown a "moderate" reduction in hospitalization risk from the Omicron variant in England relative to Delta infections, according to a report published by the Imperial College COVID-19 response team last week.   While Dr. Anthony Fauci said it would be better to have Omicron be “totally pervasive and be relatively low degree of severity,” he said, “It’s dangerous business to be able to rely on what you perceive as a low degree of severity.”   “You don't want to count on it. You can't count on anything when you're dealing with a virus that has fooled us so many times before,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week during a White House Covid-19 briefing.