A majority of people who were infected with the Omicron variant didn’t even realise they had COVID-19, according to a new study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in the U.S. Sky News has the story – but be warned. The journalist who’s written this up thinks the finding is a reason we should be particularly worried about Omicron. After all, if people don’t know they’ve got it, they won’t take steps to stop themselves infecting others. I would have thought the more obvious take is that if more than half of people infected with Omicron don’t know they’ve got it, we really shouldn’t be that worried about it. More here.
The lack of public awareness about being infected means that people can’t take steps to prevent themselves transmitting the virus further, which is a major stumbling block for addressing new waves of the pandemic.
“More than one in every two people who were infected with Omicron didn’t know they had it,” said Dr. Susan Cheng, a corresponding author of the study which is published in JAMA Network Open.
Previous studies have estimated that at least 25% and potentially as many as 80% of people infected with the coronavirus may not experience symptoms, the researchers say.
This “low level of infection awareness has likely contributed to the fast spread of Omicron”, added Dr. Cheng
Scientists at Cedars-Sinai have been conducting research into the effects of COVID-19 and the impact of vaccines for more than two years.
At the beginning of the study they began collecting blood samples from healthcare workers, and then in the autumn of 2021 they began collecting samples from patients too.
Of the 2,479 healthcare workers and patients who had given blood samples around the beginning of the Omicron surge, the researchers found 210 people who were infected with the variant based on newly positive levels of antibodies in their blood.
The researchers then surveyed the study participants to get updates on their health status, and during these surveys only 44% of participants who had the antibodies were aware of being infected.
The majority were not only unaware of any infection, but only 10% reported having any symptoms at all – and those that did believed they were caused by a cold or another infection.
“We hope people will read these findings and think ‘I was just at a gathering where someone tested positive’ or ‘I just started to feel a little under the weather, maybe I should get a quick test‘,” said Dr. Cheng.
“The better we understand our own risks, the better we will be at protecting the health of the public as well as ourselves,” she added.
Quite extraordinary that Dr. Cheng thinks her own research finding – that of the majority who weren’t aware they were infected with Omicron, only one in 10 reported any symptoms and those that did thought they were suffering from a cold or something equally mild – is a cause of alarm and not a reason to keep calm and carry on.
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“… how can the Government continue to justify the implementation of lockdown measures until June 21st”
It doesn’t have to. It has found that you can fool nearly all the people all of the time.
We have learned how the Germany of the 1930s happened, why transparent ‘phone scams are profitable, and why Derren Brown is successful.
… but do shut up about the ‘success of the vaccine roll-out’ – it’s part of the scam (as the continued impositions prove conclusively), and one of its main objectives.
Covid seems also to absolve the government ( and opposition, remember them?) from doing anything else that is actually useful.
Dream scenario for them really.
I think it’s certainly possible that the death and case numbers would have plummeted just as much if no one had gotten the vaccine in the last 90 days.
of course
Exactly. There is little essential difference in the shapes of the April and the January curves.
Maybe January’s numbers would be much lower were it not for the shot.
I think you may well be right. If you look at the autumn curve, there is a double peak.
The first peak suggests the beginning of a decline in the normal autumn surge. There is then a steep uptick that correlates pretty well with the spread of the ‘vaccines’.
Indeed, yes!
Local Live (mirror group news) item #34 ‘No Covid patients in 3 of the 4 County hospitals”, none for two, three and four weeks respectively.
There are 11 patients in the main regional hospital, none in ITU.
The word ‘death’ does not appear anywhere so presumably none in the recent past.
My area – population 174,900 last had a death ‘with’ covid on 25th March
anybody who wears a mask is a moron
the entire of Bucks 16 ‘cases’ a day.
this can’t be about the virus
Why do people keep questioning whether this is about the virus? It’s easy enough, look up Agenda 21 and 30 for goodness sake.
Actually, pretty much the same could have been said last June when weekly deaths dropped to normal.
Are the red areas labour strongholds?
Try the Express, the whole country varies from blood red to cerise.
they will find another reason to keep us locked up so they can collect more for their shares in facebook and apple
If only that was the reason.
It would be interesting to know if “cause of death” reporting by doctors varies according to vaccine status of the deceased. If it’s known the person was vaccinated, are they much less likely to have “covid” somewhere on the death certificate, even if they had any of the “classic” symptoms before they died. We know that many unvaccinated people were put down as covid deaths when there was little evidence they were.
Excellent point!
“Shipman certificates”, in effect. The ONS glossary lets them get away with it.