"Given the number of cases we're seeing, death rates might very possibly rise dramatically."
With COVID cases at an all-time high, with more than a million cases expected per day, Americans are understandably concerned but unsure how worried they should be. According to reports, Omicron is "less severe" than Delta and accounted for 94% of cases. However, we all know someone who has been infected with COVID, and some of them are pretty sick. So, how are you going to stay safe? Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appeared on Fox News Sunday with presenter Bret Baier yesterday to face some tough questions on what you should do right now. Read on for five life-saving answers.
1. Dr. Walensky Said Deaths May Rise Dramatically Given the Sheer Number of Cases
"What we're seeing with the Omicron variant is that it tends to be milder person by person, but given the large numbers, we're seeing more and more cases come into the hospital—in some hospitals that we've talked to, up to 40% of the patients who are coming in with COVID are coming in with something else and have had the COVID variant detected, not because they're sick with COVID.
"On a person-by-person basis, Omicron may not be as dangerous as Delta...however, given the volume of cases that we're seeing, we very well may see death rates rise drastically, " "Dr. Walensky stated.
2. Dr. Walensky Said it's the Unvaccinated Who are Filling the Hospitals and Don't Count on Immunity From a Previous Infection
Walenksy justified vaccine mandates, saying that "The most disruptive issue for any organization or industry is having half of their staff absent due to COVID. Previous protection does not protect you with the Omicron variant as it did with the last one. So having had a past infection doesn't seem to protect you as much from Omicron. The most important thing to do right now, in my opinion, is to safeguard Americans. We achieve this by vaccinating and boostering them." Even while Omicron infects people, who have been vaccinated, "It infects them at a lesser rate, and those who have been vaccinated and infected with Omicron are not the ones who end up in the hospital severely sick. Those are the ones who have not been vaccinated." Don't count on immunity from a previous infection to protect you from a new one, she added, published studies into Omicron that "so far has indicated that prior infection protects you less well."
3. Dr. Walensky Said Children are Vulnerable, and You Have to Protect Them This Way
Dr. Walensky remarked, "Here's what I can tell you about our pediatric hospitalizations." "First and first, the huge majority of children in hospitals are unvaccinated. We also know that if their family members aren't vaccinated, those children who aren't eligible for vaccination are more likely to get sick with COVID. The most critical thing we can do for those children, to keep them out of the hospital, is to vaccinate them and their family members." Regardless, "Comparatively, the danger of death is minimal, but of course, children aren't supposed to die," Walensky added. We wish to protect our children if they are infected with COVID 19." Vaccinations, she repeated, protect people from a severe illness.
4. Dr. Walensky Said More Treatments are Coming Soon
"We now have a number of treatments for Omicron, including monoclonal antibodies for both treatment and prophylaxis, as well as two new antivirals, one from Pfizer and the other from Merck. There are so many... to be able to use it as an outpatient with three daily infusions. All of these are presently in the process of being distributed. Many of these are more difficult to produce and take longer to do so, but the administration is fast expanding what they can buy and provide to the American people."
5. Dr. Walensky Said this About Keeping Kids in Schools
"Most importantly, I'd like to
remind people that we experienced Delta spike in the fall of this year, and we
were able to safely keep our children in school before getting pediatric
vaccination. We are now in the era of pediatric vaccination. Of course, each
jurisdiction will have to make these decisions on its own. But the most
essential thing we can do is get our children, teachers, and teenagers
vaccinated, and then follow all of the layered mitigation methods that have
been proven to work masking ventilation test, and have saved hundreds of thousands
of people, days for kids staying in school. All of those things have been shown
to be effective." So get your vaccinations and boosters.