LOL -- you expecting people to do an image search for a bullshiat "news" image. Of course, the reason you do this is because it returns thousands of non-useful similar article images -- and effectively is unsearchable. Your image looks like doctored shiat you found on Twitter. Provide a link -- or shut up.
Will omicron wipe out delta forever? What one variant's takeover means for the pandemic's future. https://www.livescience.com/omicron-overtaking-delta Six weeks after it was first reported in South Africa on Nov. 24, the omicron variant of the coronavirus is sweeping away the previous delta variant. Does that mean that omicron will wipe out delta for good? Or will the two strains co-circulate forever? Increasingly, it looks like omicron's takeover from delta is assured — and that delta is unlikely to resurface in a meaningful way, even after omicron has burned through the population. In many states, omicron now makes up 99% or more of all coronavirus infections, according to an analysis by Trevor Bedford, a biostatistician and biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Bedford and his colleagues have been tracking genetic sequences collected from COVID-19 patients and have found that omicron infections began to outnumber delta infections in mid- to late December. Even in states with relatively less omicron, the variant is responsible for 80% or more of cases, Bedford wrote on Twitter on Jan. 5. When omicron first emerged, researchers worried that both variants might co-circulate. It was clear that omicron could spread like wildfire, but it wasn't clear whether this was due to an intrinsically better ability to spread, or whether omicron was just evading immunity in vaccinated and previously infected people, giving it targets that delta didn't have. As it turns out, however, omicron does evade immunity. But it's also intrinsically two to three times more transmissible than delta, and that explains omicron's world domination. "If you put them into direct competition, omicron is going to win, so in the population that is what is going to happen," said Dr. Shiv Pillai, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies the immune system. "People will more likely get infected by omicron than delta, so delta will slowly fade away, and omicron will take over." Omicron is generally less severe than delta, thanks to a mix of pre-existing immunity in the population and omicron's preference for multiplying in the bronchi, or air passages, rather than the lungs. That means its takeover could ultimately lead to fewer deaths than if delta had continued its onslaught unhindered. And the huge wave of omicron infections may ultimately provide some protection against future variants and bring us closer to the end of the pandemic, one expert told Live Science. Still, the possibility of new variants is out there, and some form of the virus will be with us for the foreseeable future. Cross-immunity The spike protein of the omicron variant has dozens of changes in its proteins compared with the delta spike protein. This protein is the key the virus uses to get into cells; it's also the target of the antibodies generated by the COVID-19 vaccines. That means even if a person has been infected with a past variant or has been vaccinated, their immune system will not produce antibodies well-matched to omicron; their antibodies instead are primed to target the spike protein of the original variant of SARS-CoV-2 (which is more similar to delta than it is to omicron). However, there are still many amino acid shapes in common between the two spikes, Pillai told Live Science. Thus, researchers expect some level of cross-immunity between the two. A small study from South Africa, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed that this cross-reactivity does indeed exist. The study examined immune responses in vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected with omicron. The researchers, led by Alex Sigal of the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, recruited eight unvaccinated and seven vaccinated participants with breakthrough infections. Three of the vaccinated patients had received two doses of Pfizer's vaccine, three had a single shot of J&J, and one had two shots of J&J. The researchers drew blood from the infected individuals approximately four days into their illnesses and then again two weeks later. They then exposed coronavirus in the lab to the blood samples, testing the body's first line of defense: neutralizing antibodies. These antibodies bind to the virus, preventing it from entering cells. Not surprisingly, compared with the blood taken initially, the blood from two weeks later showed a 14.4-fold increase in its ability to neutralize omicron in a lab culture of the virus. But neutralization of delta rose too, increasing by 4.4 times. That means an infection with omicron should boost protection against delta as well. This wasn't surprising, Pillai said. When exposed to the coronavirus, the immune system will create antibodies that recognize the shape of different portions of the spike protein. Some of these shapes are the same on both omicron and delta, so some anti-omicron antibodies will fight back against delta, too. This is the same mechanism by which a booster dose of the vaccine works, Pillai added. A recent study led by Alejandro Balazs, an immunologist at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, and posted on the preprint database MedRxiv found that while two doses of vaccine elicited no neutralization ability against omicron, a booster dose did fight the variant, and with a response only four to six times less strong than against the original coronavirus strain. This is remarkable, considering that a booster introduces the immune system to the original spike protein yet again. But this re-introduction boosts antibody levels very high, Pillai said. A fraction of these numerous antibodies are cross-reactive — they bind to the similarly shaped-bumps on both omicron and delta. A high enough concentration of antibodies against these shared shapes can still block infection, even if many of the vaccine-generated antibodies aren't shaped for omicron. "It's the antibodies to those common bumps which are protecting us when we get boosted," Pillai said. Transmission dynamics Advertisement Omicron's apparent mildness compared with delta is one silver lining of its dominance. In any given person, catching omicron is likely less dangerous than catching delta (especially for the vaccinated). However, the absolute number of omicron breakthrough infections is higher than during the delta wave, meaning the next few weeks will be tough: The overall crush of people being infected all at once is still straining healthcare resources at the level of the delta wave or worse. According to Our World in Data, there were 119,661 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. as of Jan. 6, beating out the delta wave high of 97,811 and approaching last winter's peak of 133,268. But in the months to come, the omicron wave will also give many people new immunity to the coronavirus, including cross-reactive immunity that may protect them from the most serious outcomes if another variant does emerge. However, the South African study also highlights why so-called “natural immunity” from omicron on its own isn’t enough to protect people from reinfection or new variants. The study found stronger antibody responses to omicron infection in individuals who were previously vaccinated and more variable responses in people who were unvaccinated — in some, infection induced strong antibody responses, and in others, fairly weak ones. (That may be because the virus may activate proteins that turn off or block the optimal immune response – something vaccination doesn’t do.) Neutralizing antibodies from infection also wane with time, just as neutralizing antibodies from vaccination do. "The hard data will tell you that infection can protect you from infection to some extent, but when it comes to hospitalization and disease it's not proven as good," Pillai said. Ultimately, Pillai said, a combination of vaccines and omicron could help transition the world from a pandemic to endemic state, meaning that most people will have some pre-existing immunity to the coronavirus and spikes in infection will become less disastrous in terms of hospitalization, severe disease and death. Nevertheless, waning immunity will probably mean that some version of the coronavirus sticks around, and people may become vulnerable to serious outcomes as they get further from previous infection or booster shots. It's also possible that a more severe immune-evading variant could arise. In the future, Pillai said, antiviral drugs such as Pfizer's Paxlovid, which showed promise in clinical trials, will likely be key for reducing the damage caused by the continued circulation of SARS-CoV-2.
Four charts that analyze how omicron’s wave compares to previous coronavirus peaks https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...ron-comparison-cases-deaths-hospitalizations/
UT omicron projections: COVID-19 cases will peak in the next few days https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavir...ovid-19-cases-will-peak-in-the-next-few-days/ The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 modeling consortium has run updated omicron projections which show the United States will likely hit its peak number of cases in the next few days, but that we could see a healthcare surge well beyond what we’ve seen previously in the pandemic. The consortium put out 16 projections last month that showed how the U.S. might fare against the omicron variant, but at the time much of the information about omicrons characteristics were unknown. Now, the consortium has rerun those projections as more data has been collected. According to researchers at UT, studies overall suggest omicron is more transmissible, more immune evasive and less severe than delta. That was the lens researchers were looking through with the new projections. As for what they found, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news: Even in the most pessimistic projection, researchers believe COVID-19 cases will peak within the next week. Some models showed the peak could even happen within the next few days. Surges and peaks in case numbers typically supersede trends in hospitalizations and deaths, which could peak several weeks after case numbers do. The bad news: Of those updated projections, the most pessimistic — which assumes omicron is as transmissible as delta but significantly more evasive of immunity and vaccines — shows we will experience the largest healthcare surge to date. In that projection, cases and hospitalizations are expected to be around three times what we saw in the January 2021 peak and deaths are projected at slightly above what we saw in January. In the most optimistic scenario — where omicron is around half as transmissible as delta, less severe and only slightly more evasive — projections still show cases will be more than three times what we’ve seen in previous peaks, hospitalizations slightly higher than previous peaks and deaths being about half of what we saw in the January surge last year. According to Texas Health and Human Services data, 220 people died of COVID-19 in Texas in the month of January in 2021.
Biden's executive order can only cover the Executive branch of government, not the legislature. This should be obvious to anyone with minimal knowledge of how our government works with three branches & their responsibilities. Fact check: Biden can't mandate vaccinations for Congress; order covers executive branch only https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...en-cant-mandate-vaccines-congress/8384930002/ The claim: Biden exempted Congress and its staff from his vaccine mandate Outrage ensued online when President Joe Biden announced a strict set of federal vaccine requirements in a continued effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. But some say the president is picking and choosing who has to abide by the rules. “Shocker! Biden exempted Congress (staff too) from his vaccination mandate. The federal government doesn't have to abide by the mandates set by the federal government. This is why Americans have disdain for The Swamp,” a Sept. 15 Instagram post reads. The claim originated on Twitter, where the Sept. 14 tweet received more than 300 likes and 100 retweets. On Instagram, it garnered more than 900 likes in aday. The claim is false. Biden’s vaccine requirements were issued in the form of an executive order – directives that apply only to the executive branch. Congress is the legislative branch, and thus, is not subject to the order. USA TODAY reached out to the Twitter user and the Instagram post’s creator for comment. Congress exempt from rules due to separation of powers, not Biden Congress and its staff are not beholden to Biden’s executive orders that will require vaccination for all federal workers. But that’s not because he specifically exempted them. Executive orders are directives that manage operations of the federal government, according to the American Bar Association. They hold the effect of the law and can’t be overridden by Congress unless it oversteps an already-existing law. Issuing them is a presidential power. As indicated in the name, executive orders only apply to the executive branch. Biden’s order goes a step further, explicitly defining which workers fall under the mandate. The order mandates that each agency require COVID-19 vaccination for all its federal employees, only giving exceptions required by law. It further defines “agencies” under the U.S. Code’s Title 5 as an executive department, government corporation or independent agency. “So, now the important question: Why did Biden's executive order only cover executive branch agency employees?" said Matthew Glassman, a fellow at Georgetown’s Government Affairs Institute. "The answer is that he doesn't have the authority to make such regulations for the legislative branch.” The legislative branch is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, known together as Congress. “It's as simple as that,” Glassman said. “POTUS has statutory authority to make regulations for Title 5 executive branch employees, and he has no such authority to do so for legislative branch employees.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in April she can’t require members of the House to be vaccinated, as it is a “matter of privacy to know who is or who isn’t,” and that she defers to the Capitol Physician on those matters. But in early August, she indicated the vaccine’s full Food and Drug Administration approval might lead the Capitol Physician to change the rules. USA TODAY didn't find any comments from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on a congressional vaccine mandate. Our rating: False Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Biden exempted Congress and its staff from his vaccine mandate. Biden’s vaccine requirements were issued in the form of an executive order – directives that only apply to the executive branch. Congress forms the legislative branch, and thus, can't be subjected to the order.
Recent Omicron news... Omicron more likely to reinfect than Delta, no milder -study https://www.reuters.com/business/he...ly-reinfect-than-delta-study-says-2021-12-17/ Omicron may be mild, but opens door to ‘nastier’ variants – stark scientific warning https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1546722/Omicron-news-variant-mutation-covid19-warning No, You Should Not Try to Get Omicron https://time.com/6133419/should-i-try-to-get-omicron/