Owing to media characterizations, just hearing “Omicron” can provoke fear and trembling. But the good news is that the latest coronavirus variant is, in contrast to the original Alpha, a real beta. In fact, not only is it apparently less virulent than previous strains but, says an Oxford immunologist, it’s not even “the same disease we were seeing a year ago.”
As the Independent reports, Professor Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University told the paper that the
mass fatalities and packed intensive care units marking the coronavirus pandemic’s first year will likely not be repeated in the UK as a result of Covid-19, a scientist advising the government has claimed.
… “The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago – intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely – that is now history in my view and I think we should reassured that that’s likely to continue,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning.
While ministers have come under fire from some epidemiologists after choosing not to impose further health restrictions in England ahead of the New Year, as the Omicron variant continues to drive record surges in infections, Sir John backed the government’s decision.
… Asked about the “dramatic” 45 per cent rise in the the [sic] number of Covid-19 patients in London hospitals in the week to 27 December, Sir John said: “I think you’ve got to be careful about that … First of all in absolute numbers, it’s not massive, it’s an increase of about 200 people a day, and it still remains less than 400 which is a marker that we had been watching.”
… He said that the disease “does appear to be less severe”, arguing that most patients “don’t need high-flow oxygen” and “the average length of stay is apparently three days”, adding: “This is not the same disease as we were seeing a year ago.”
Bell does, however, partially attribute the better China virus outcomes to the mRNA-therapy agents (MTAs, a.k.a. “vaccines”) designed to combat them, the efficaciousness and safety of which are in dispute.
“‘The incidence of severe disease and death from this disease [Covid] has basically not changed since we all got vaccinated and that’s really important to remember,’ he told the BBC,” CNBC relates.
Yet as The New American and other sources have reported, “vaccinated” individuals often constitute a significant portion of SARS-CoV-2 hospitalizations. In fact, TNA informed in August, “four-fifths of hospitalizations” in one Massachusetts town “occurred in fully vaccinated individuals, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
What’s more, stories of serious MTA-coincident health problems — including severe heart issues and even death — are now legion.
As for Omicron’s relative mildness, CNBC also tells us that a “U.K. government study published Thursday said that people are far less likely to be admitted to the hospital with the Covid omicron variant than with the previous delta strain.”
“The U.K. Health Security Agency said individuals with omicron are estimated to be between 31% and 45% less likely to attend emergency departments compared with those with delta, and 50% to 70% less likely to require admission to a hospital,” the site continued.
In point of fact, while Omicron has been circulating for many weeks and now constitutes approximately 60 percent of the U.S.’s coronavirus infections, only one person in our country of 330 million has reportedly died of the virus. And that poor man, a Texan, had an underlying health condition.
Despite this, we still operate under the supposition that we can’t return to normalcy until we, as they say, “get the virus under control.” A variation on this is that we must “win the war against COVID,” a line uttered by many of the same people who couldn’t win an actual war against the Islamic State or get the Taliban “under control.”
But consider: The flu kills approximately 12,000 to 60,000 Americans every year. Some “normal” years see 80-90k influenza deaths, and the 2017-’18 season included a weeks-long period during which the elderly were dying of the disease at the rate of 169 a day or seven an hour. During the 2009-’10 season, it claimed about 358 children’s lives. In fact, the pathogen has killed literally millions of Americans during our history.
Now, question: Is the flu “under control”?
Approximately 659,000 Americans die from heart disease yearly — one person every 36 seconds — and the disease accounts for one in every four deaths.
Is heart disease “under control”?
Our nation also sees about 600,000 cancer deaths annually. Under control?
During history, millions of Americans have died of each of the following: vehicular accidents, murder, and suicide. Are these problems under control?
Really, this issue has a philosophical dimension. As we mature, assuming we grow in wisdom, we learn that “control” is largely an illusion. There’s much in life beyond our control — including life itself. This is one reason why people of faith will often emphasize that God is in control, because we certainly are not.
The point here is that we’re not going to “control” a respiratory disease anytime soon. The common cold is also a coronavirus, and we accept it as a fact of life. As Nancy Pelosi might put it were she as realistic about pathogens as she is risible about mob violence, “Viruses will do what they do.”
All we can do with the China virus is accept that it has become less virulent, treat it early, and go on with our lives. COVID is here to stay, like it or not. But tyrannical, control-freak China virus tyranny does not have to be.
