From Michael Martin, Yahoo News: The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has surged worldwide in record time — it was only three weeks ago that the first case was identified in South Africa.
Last week, it accounted for 73% of new COVID infections in the United States, according to the latest CDC data. It’s highly contagious — scientists estimate it’s twice as transmissible as the Delta variant — which calls for an abundance of caution.
Symptoms of an Omicron infection are: A scratchy or sore throat, nasal congestion, a dry cough, and muscle pain, especially lower back pain.
Experts tentatively say that Omicron seems to be producing milder symptoms than previous variants.
“It is clear that if you’re vaccinated, particularly if you’ve had a booster, Omicron tends to produce milder infections,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. ”What we haven’t seen yet is a substantial body of information about what Omicron will do in unvaccinated people.”
But experts warn that more data needs to be gathered before it can be conclusively said that Omicron causes different symptoms. Early data indicates that Omicron’s incubation period — the time it takes for an infected person to develop symptoms after exposure to the virus — may be significantly shorter than with previous variants. Previously, it was about a week, while Omicron may develop in three days or less.
So how do you tell if your cough or sore throat is a cold or COVID? You really can’t, experts say. Their advice: If you’re having any symptoms that are out of the ordinary, get tested for COVID ASAP — even if you’ve been fully vaccinated or boosted — and self-isolate until you know the results.
“Even if you think it’s just allergies, it would be best for you to go ahead and get a COVID test and make sure you don’t have it before you go to work or school or church, because those symptoms can be very mild,” said S. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist hospital.
Our Take: Protect yourself from ALL variants
How can I protect myself from the new Omicron variant? The same way you guard against COVID-19 caused by any other variant: Get vaccinated if you haven’t yet; get a booster if you’re eligible. What we need to do is add more layers of protection. A booster shot is one of those layers. The added dose triggers a big jump in virus-fighting antibodies.
In addition to masking, avoiding crowds and improving ventilation, testing is another protective step. That’s recommended for anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or was potentially exposed to the virus. Check with Richland Public Health’s Facebook page (and “like” us) or that of the local libraries or 2-1-1 for availability of FREE testing kits.
COVID-19 vaccination information
COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots are now widely available for free. Our registration number is 419-774-4700.
See richlandhealth.org/covid-vaccine-qa for all area providers. As of Dec. 30, Richland County had vaccinated 53,697 with at least one dose of the vaccines and Ohio had vaccinated 6.985 million individuals.
Quarantine questions? Visit richlandhealth.org/quarantining/
As of Dec. 30, 2021 – Richland County and Ohio data from ODH. The U.S. and Global data is from Johns Hopkins:
• Richland County has had 17,629 confirmed positive pandemic cases with 6,356 probable cases for a total of 23,985 cumulative cases since the first case on March 19, 2020.
• There have been 870 cases in the last seven days, and 1,405 cases over the last two weeks.
• There have been 1,158 hospitalizations overall with 62 current and 15 on ventilators.
• There have been 402 confirmed pandemic deaths in Richland County by the CDC* with 263 of those in 2021.
• 21,356 people on the cumulative list have recovered.
* Death data within 120 days may be preliminary and subject to increase due to CDC verification.
Ohio has had 1,573,656 confirmed cases and 421,841 probable cases for 1,995,497 total cases since the first cases on March 9, 2020. Ohio had 79,038 cases in the last seven days. Ohio has 28,780 pandemic deaths (1 in the last seven day). There are or have been 96,193 individuals hospitalized in Ohio (1,036 in the last seven days) with 11,730 total ICU admissions. Ohio’s presumed-recovered count is 1,745,280.
The U.S. has 53,665,000 cumulative pandemic cases with 823,000 cumulative deaths. In the Last 28 days: 4,961,000 cases and 39,600 deaths. (numbers are rounded up)
Globally, there have been 284,712,000 cumulative pandemic cases with 5,426,000 cumulative deaths. In the Last 28 Days: 21,008,000 cases and 196,000 deaths. Total global COVID-19 vaccine doses administered: 9,090,000,000. (numbers are rounded up)
