COVID updates - Omicron dominant, surge accelerating in US
Omicron now dominant, monoclonal antibodies less effective, Paxlovid granted EUA!
Hi everybody,
Here’s what’s been going on with COVID in the US:
Omicron surging, now dominant in the US.
The CDC reported a few days ago that the Omicron variant was the dominant variant in the US, accounting for more than 70% of all new cases. What took delta a few months to do, Omicron has been able to do in 3 weeks.
COVID cases have been accelerating in the US in the past few weeks. Just yesterday, the US reported almost 200,000 new COVID cases, which is on par with the peak of the Delta variant surge back this summer.
The good news however, is that for those that are vaccinated (and boosted if eligible) the risk of severe illness and hospitalization remains low. Again, do not dismiss Omicron as mild, as many are doing. That would be a mistake. Protect yourself; we have the tools to fight this.
First Omicron death in the US was in an unvaccinated man.
Tragically, the US reported its first death from Omicron - an unvaccinated man with prior infection, in Harris county. He was in his 50s, had prior COVID infection (unclear when), had some underlying health conditions, and had been unvaccinated. Unfortunately, despite his high risk from COVID, he had decided to rely on immunity from infection, and had chosen not to get vaccinated.
We have data now that shows that prior infection by itself provides little to no protection against the Omicron variant. More research is still needed on this, and is underway.
Monoclonal antibodies less effective against Omicron
Unfortunately, it appears that our best tools so far against COVID, monoclonal antibodies, are also less effective against Omicron than they were the Delta variant or the other variants. These are the ones made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly. The only monoclonal antibody that does seem to work is sotrovimab, made by GSK, but that is is in extreme short supply in the country at this time.
Paxlovid given EUA
In all this gloom and doom, the good news is that just today the FDA granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Paxlovid, the first oral anti-viral pill that has shown to work against COVID-19. It is anti-viral pill (3 pills twice a day for 5 days), and approved for those who test positive for COVID and are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID. Kind of like the monoclonal antibodies, but it’s shown to work against Omicron and Delta, and anticipated to be 90% effective!
While this is good news, this is NOT a replacement for the vaccine. Prevention is always better than treatment. It does have some considerations for use, and needs to be prescribed by a physician.
That’s all the big updates for now folks. If you are considering how to modify your holiday plans, I have a guide for you that might be useful!
Stay safe, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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