Tag: influenza

Could Omicron be even LESS deadly than seasonal flu? Scientists believe ultra-infectious strain may kill 100 TIMES fewer people than Delta (and mortality rates were ALREADY similar to influenza before the variant emerged)

Omicron could be even less deadly than flu, scientists believe in a boost to hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over.

Some experts have always maintained that the coronavirus would eventually morph into a seasonal cold-like virus as the world develops immunity through vaccines and natural infection. But the emergence of the highly-mutated Omicron variant appears to have sped the process up.

MailOnline analysis shows Covid killed one in 33 people who tested positive at the peak of the devastating second wave last January, compared to just one in 670 now. But experts believe the figure could be even lower because of Omicron. 

The case fatality rate — the proportion of confirmed infections that end in death — for seasonal influenza is 0.1, the equivalent of one in 1,000. 

Meanwhile, researchers at Washington University modelling the next stage of the pandemic expect Omicron to kill up to 99 per cent fewer people than Delta, in another hint it could be less deadly than flu. 

No accurate infection-fatality rate (IFR), which is always just a fraction of the CFR because it reflects deaths among everyone who catches the virus, has yet been published for Delta. 

But UK Government advisers estimated the overall figure stood at around 0.25 per cent before Omicron burst onto the scene, down from highs of around 1.5 per cent before the advent of life-saving vaccines. 

If Omicron is 99 per cent less lethal than Delta, it suggests the current IFR could be as low as 0.0025 per cent, the equivalent of one in 40,000, although experts say this is unlikely. Instead, the Washington modelling estimates the figure actually sits in the region of 0.07 per cent, meaning approximately one in 1,430 people who get infected will succumb to the illness.  

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The U.S. Has Been Through A Vaccine Rollout Like This Before – Here’s What Went Wrong

“This government-led campaign was widely viewed as a debacle and put an irreparable dent in future public health initiative, as well as negatively influenced the public’s perception of both the flu and the flu shot in this country.” – Rebecca Kreston, writing for Discover Magazine

After a soldier named David Lewis died from a newly emerged form of influenza, then-US Secretary of Health F. David Mathis announced that this virus indicated “a return of the 1918 flu virus that is the most virulent form of flu,” and in extension the most deadly pandemic since the start of the 20th century.

The CDC decided that in order to prevent another pandemic, 80% of Americans would have to be vaccinated immediately. Ultimately, 46 million Americans received the vaccine for a virus which never actually emerged.

Resulting from what Rebecca Kreston believes to be then-President Ford’s “increasingly politically motivated” election campaign was that over 450 mostly elderly folks came down with a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome, an illness that causes full-body paralysis and of which there is no cure.

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Fauci: “Possible” Mask Mandates Could Last Indefinitely to Fight Flu

Anthony Fauci told NBC’s Chuck Todd that it’s “possible” mask mandates could continue indefinitely in order to reduce seasonal flu infections.

During his appearance on Meet The Press, Fauci was asked when Americans could take the masks off given that the CDC is now advising vaccinated Americans that they can remove the face coverings when outside.

“At what point, if vaccinated people get together, do you take the mask off? Are masks going to be something we have with us in a seasonal aspect?” Todd asked Fauci.

“You know, that’s quite possible, I think people have gotten used to the fact that wearing masks, clearly if you look at the data, diminished respiratory diseases. We’ve had practically a nonexistent flu season this year, merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominantly against COVID-19,” responded Fauci.

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Report: Flu Has ‘Virtually Disappeared’ From U.S.

AP suggests that it is also possible that “the coronavirus has essentially muscled aside flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter.”

Lynnette Brammer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged, “This is the lowest flu season we’ve had on record.”

AP noted that only one pediatric flu death has been reported so far this season, while 92 were reported at the same point last year.

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