How long can Omicron be spread out?

If your test is positive for Covid-19, you will be advised to self-isolate for five days to two weeks. It all depends on where you live.

The US and UK have reduced their recommended self-isolation periods for asymptomatic people – and other countries may soon follow suit, as the highly transmissible variant of Omicron threatens to keep hospital staff and other key workers at home.

In the United States, people can now leave isolation if they have no symptoms after five days, followed by five days during which they must wear a mask around others. The UK last week reduced the period to seven days for people who produce two consecutive negative lateral flow tests.

It comes amid record case numbers in both countries and marks the first time since Omicron’s emergence that large countries have deviated from the 10-day isolation period recommended by the World Health Organization .

But most countries still follow the 10-day marker, while others, like Germany, require up to 14 days of isolation. The disparities have led some to wonder exactly when and for how long people are contagious with the Omicron variant.

The actions were taken amid concerns about the availability of key workers. “If you are asymptomatic and you are infected, we want to get people back to their jobs – especially those in essential jobs – so that our society continues to function properly,” Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Human Rights. allergies and infectious diseases, told CNN this week.

But there is also emerging data behind the changes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said their decision was “driven by science showing that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the illness, usually within 1-2 days. before the onset of symptoms and 2-3 days after.

A first CDC study, released Tuesday, examined an Omicron cluster in Nebraska and found that the time between exposure and infection – known as the incubation period – can be around three days. It’s shorter than the Delta strain, which studies estimate has a four-day incubation period.

A similar study of a Christmas party in Norway in which dozens of people were infected gave comparable results.

“There is growing evidence, for people who have been vaccinated, that if we are asymptomatic we are very unlikely to be contagious after about five to seven days,” the associate dean of public health told CNN Tuesday. from Brown University, Dr. Megan Ranney.

Emerging evidence that Omicron might be less serious than Delta likely played a role in the moves as well.

But the new guidelines have always sparked debate in the medical community, with experts yet to fully understand Omicron.

“For the unvaccinated, the data doesn’t really prove that you become non-infectious after five days,” Ranney said. “I am quite worried about these new recommendations. “

She suggested having different guidelines for unvaccinated people until more data is available – which could also have the “extra boost” of encouraging people to get vaccinated if they don’t. haven’t already.

Erin Bromage, professor of biology at UMass Dartmouth, added on CNN Wednesday that there was “absolutely no data to my knowledge” to support the change in guidance.

He added that people can still test positive on antigen tests for up to seven or eight days after their initial test, even if they have no symptoms. Unlike the UK, where antigen testing is more common, US guidelines do not depend on getting a negative result.

Omicron is destroying the workforce in several countries nonetheless, and it is likely that more countries will shorten their isolation periods in the new year if the burden on hospitals increases. “With the sheer volume of new cases… one of the things we want to be careful of is that we don’t have that many people,” Fauci said.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.

Three preprint articles published last week revealed good news about the seriousness of the Omicron variant.

The studies – one from England, another from Scotland, and a third from South Africa – have suggested that Omicron is associated with a lower risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant. The degree of reduction in this risk varied from 40 to 80% from one study to another.

This research included preliminary data and the articles have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. But they add to growing evidence that the new strain, while highly transmissible, may be less serious.

Nevertheless, a lower risk of hospitalization could easily be offset by the higher number of simultaneous infections caused by Omicron in several countries. That’s why experts call for caution – and encourage anyone who hasn’t received the vaccine or the booster to do so before Omicron sets in.

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Covid-19 case rates have increased as the Omicron variant has spread, but the number of hospitalizations appears to remain relatively low. For those vaccinated, the evidence suggests that infection with this variant seems less likely to be serious, the epidemiologist and former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, Dr Abdul El-Sayed, former director of the Detroit Health Department, told CNN.

“The important thing to remember is that a vaccine is like giving your immune system a ‘be on the lookout’ call. So its ability to identify, target and destroy viruses is so much higher every time we take another boost from the vaccine, ”El-Sayed said.

“It makes sense that the symptoms you would experience would be milder if you were vaccinated. That doesn’t mean, however, that infections shouldn’t be taken seriously, he added, especially considering the risk of overwhelming health systems.

Many Latin American countries now have higher vaccination rates than Europe and North America

Many countries in Latin America were affected by soaring Covid-19 death rates at the start of the pandemic, as the coronavirus raged across the region.

The tide is now turning in many countries in Latin America, where vaccination rates overtake countries in Europe and North America and are helping to reduce the number of deaths, Tim Lister writes.

Vaccine roll-out was slow at first, with getting the vaccines on hand being a major problem. Just six months ago, Latin America and the Caribbean reported just under half of all Covid-19-related deaths globally.

Now, the region accounts for around 10% of global Covid-19-related deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. This is due to the accelerated delivery of European, American, Chinese and local vaccines that a number of Latin American countries received in the second half of this year, according to data from the Pan American Health Organization ( OPS).

One of the reasons for the success of these vaccination campaigns can be attributed to history: many countries in Latin America have long-standing and reliable national vaccination campaigns against other diseases, such as polio.

Omicron sets off a Christmas travel nightmare

Several thousand flights were canceled this week as cases of Covid multiply across the world.

More than 2,000 trips were canceled on Wednesday, following a series of failed trips during the holiday period. Of more than 2,800 flights canceled Monday, about 1,000 were within, to or from the United States, according to FlightAware.

Almost 11,000 flights are delayed. Globally, airlines have canceled more than 6,000 flights on Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. In the United States, more than 1,200 flights have been canceled and more than 5,000 were delayed on Sunday alone as staff and crew call in sick.

Cancellations occur at the busiest time of the year for air travel. The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened millions of people every day over the statutory weekend, peaking at 2.19 million travelers on Thursday, December 23.

More people passed through TSA checkpoints on Wednesday than on the same day in 2019.

BEST ADVICE

It’s time to update your mask

As the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread, some experts say it’s high time to reconsider your face mask options, especially if you’re still wearing the fabric variety.

“Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There is no place for them in the light of Omicron, ”said Dr. Leana Wen, CNN medical analyst, emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Ideally, in crowded places, “you should wear a KN95 or N95 mask,” which can be as cheap as a few dollars each, Wen added.

By having a better fit and certain materials – such as polypropylene fibers – acting as both mechanical and electrostatic barriers, these masks better prevent tiny particles from entering your nose or mouth and must be tailored to your face to function. correctly.

Read more here.

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