Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 1001 posts

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#141

Post by timr »

ufo wrote: post #13

The title is misleading. It is possible that Omicron is just as severe and that the effect in the study is because a large percentage of the population had some immunity from a previous infection or vaccine. > South Africa has a quite high seroprevalence of prior infection, particularly after delta, and in some parts of South Africa up to 80 percent of people were exposed to previous infection. We don’t think it’s a…

> The title is misleading.

Just because you disagree with something does not make it "misleading". The question of prior immunity is not unknown, is an obvious question, and in fact is mentioned in the article and discussed in the study.

The title accurately reflects the contents of the study. I have many issues with Washington Post's coverage of Covid, but this is actually fair.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#143

Post by the-dude »

lambdaba wrote: post #140
the-dude wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Viruses have no agency, will or desires.

This kind of anthropomorphism is acceptable, it's not like the poster doesn't understand how evolution works... I'm pretty sure "experts" have used the phrase as well. The gist of the comment is correct though.

A variant could emerge which is more contagious and more deadly.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#144

Post by chinathrow »

bognition wrote: post #9

There are a few important bits here: First: "The study by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest health insurer, of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases, of which 78,000 were attributed to omicron, showed that risk of hospital admissions among adults who contracted covid-19 was 29 percent lower than in the initial pandemic wave that emerged in March 2020." and second: "At the same time, the vaccine may offer 70 perce…

> Yes the vaccine does improve outcomes BUT the hospitalization rate for unvaccinated people is still lower with Omicron than previous variants.

In this very specific demographic. Other countries will have different outcomes, as seen with the current state of the pandemic (looking at Europe, for example).

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#145

Post by bluGill »

timr wrote: post #141
ufo wrote: post #13

The title is misleading. It is possible that Omicron is just as severe and that the effect in the study is because a large percentage of the population had some immunity from a previous infection or vaccine. > South Africa has a quite high seroprevalence of prior infection, particularly after delta, and in some parts of South Africa up to 80 percent of people were exposed to previous infection. We don’t think it’s a…

> The title is misleading. Just because you disagree with something does not make it "misleading". The question of prior immunity is not unknown, is an obvious question, and in fact is mentioned in the article and discussed in the study. The title accurately reflects the contents of the study. I have many issues with Washington Post's coverage of Covid, but this is actually fair.

That is still misleading. We don't actually have enough evidence to make such bold claims because the unknowns exist.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#146

Post by r00fus »

aantix wrote: post #103
jjk166 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoping it's mild is great. Betting your life it's mild is dumb.

243 deaths per 100,000 in the U.S. ( https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality ). The death distributions are very clear. If you're healthy, betting that you would be OK is a very reasonable bet.

Death is merely the most extreme outcome. Not dying doesn't mean you're OK.

Long COVID is a big deal, and it apparently affects half of those who get COVID [1]. Furthermore, even double-vaxxed, while protected against hospitalization or death, are still at risk (reduced about 50%) for long COVID [2].

Until/unless Omicron has been proven to have less severe long covid symptoms, yeah I'm treating it with the same caution that I'd do with Delta.

[1] https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/how-many-people-get-... [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03495-2

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#147

Post by _Wintermute »

ufo wrote: post #86
rich_sasha wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of. Sometimes. Viruses evolve according to evolutionary pressures. I'm surprised we don't see Covid mutations that invalidate PCR tests - perhaps it's too soon, or even, who knows, maybe they are there and we don't know? The common trope is that if the virus is too deadly, then it doesn't have a chance to find new hosts. This is kind-of what happened to "SARS-1" - it tended to kill its hosts before they could pa…

Apparently there are some variants of Omicron that can't be detected with current PCR tests. We may need to update the list of primers at some point. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/07/scientists-fin...

Just to clarify, as it's not clear from that sentence: it can still be detected with PCR, just not distinguished from other variants as easily.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#148

Post by timr »

bluGill wrote: post #145
timr wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The title is misleading. Just because you disagree with something does not make it "misleading". The question of prior immunity is not unknown, is an obvious question, and in fact is mentioned in the article and discussed in the study. The title accurately reflects the contents of the study. I have many issues with Washington Post's coverage of Covid, but this is actually fair.

That is still misleading. We don't actually have enough evidence to make such bold claims because the unknowns exist.

Again: Just because you disagree with something does not make it "misleading". Your opinion is not truth.

No research paper stands alone, and we never have all context on a given question. You disagree with the conclusion for reasons -- that's fine. Make your arguments, and see if you can convince people. That's how science works.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#149

Post by dTal »

aantix wrote: post #103
jjk166 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoping it's mild is great. Betting your life it's mild is dumb.

243 deaths per 100,000 in the U.S. ( https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality ). The death distributions are very clear. If you're healthy, betting that you would be OK is a very reasonable bet.

That works out to 1-in-400. 6 times more deadly than base jumping. Not factoring the risk of long-term disability from post-viral CFS.

I'll happily give those odds a miss.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#150

Post by jjk166 »

the-dude wrote: post #80
loourr wrote: post #70

Yes. Covid will continue to mutate to become more contagious and less deadly. This is the natural progression of endemic viruses, they don't want to kill their hosts and they want to spread.

Viruses have no agency, will or desires.

"Want" in this case is clearly understood to mean the option that is evolutionarily favorable.

Per this site's guidelines: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

Post reply on HN