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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFauci voices hope for return to normalcy around February or March
If more Americans get vaccinated and boosted, the U.S. just might return to a semblance of normalcy by February or March, the countrys top infectious disease expert said on Sunday.
Hopefully, enough people get vaccinated to the point that when omicron comes down to a low level, we keep it down at a low level enough that it doesnt disrupt our society, our economy, our way of life, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on ABCs This Week.
I hope that as we get into February and March and such, that we will be at that level of control, he said, adding that he wasnt making a prediction but voicing his personal hope.
The pandemic has reached shocking new levels, spurred by the highly contagious omicron variant of coronavirus.
The U.S. is seeing more than 300,000 new COVID cases per day for the first time since the outbreak began two years ago.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-anthony-fauci-covid-omicron-boosters-20220102-7l7fhph2drhilggkutfuq4hzxi-story.html
drray23
(7,587 posts)He does qualify his statement with:
If more Americans get vaccinated and boosted, the U.S. just might return to a semblance of normalcy by February or March, the countrys top infectious disease expert said on Sunday.
Fat chance of that happening.
RobinA
(9,878 posts)or this summer normal?
HUAJIAO
(2,362 posts)UGH!!!!!
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)But since it is contingent on COVIDiots getting vaccinated, it seems to me a vain hope.
Haggard Celine
(16,820 posts)The vaccines are keeping us out of the hospitals, for the most part, but they don't seem to be stopping infections. While I still think people should get the vaccine, I wonder how effective it is against this particular variant, and I hope that a person can't get sick with it more than once. I suppose Fauci is trying to give people some hope, because the situation doesn't look particularly hopeful right now.
Johnny2X2X
(18,745 posts)Instead of 10-12 times less likely to get it like with previous variants, its more like 3-5 times less likely with Omicron.
Haggard Celine
(16,820 posts)more resistant to Omicron, too. If they do that and if they can get it distributed quickly enough, it could make a big difference.
madville
(7,397 posts)Rinse and repeat at this point
Delphinus
(11,808 posts)my thinking too.
Shermann
(7,358 posts)madville
(7,397 posts)Gonna be dealing with new variants for years regardless
Takket
(21,425 posts)look at South Africa........ Omicron exploded mid-November, peaked mid-December, and looks like it could burn itself out by mid-January.
If we are VERY lucky Omicron could burn itself out here in two months as well, which would mean maybe mid-February the numbers are back under control?
Omicron is definitely less severe but the sheer quantity of patients it creates, and we still have Delta all over the place, so the hospitals are overflowing.
The GOOD that could come is Omicron just infects so many people with mild cases, that we get to that herd immunity stage for whatever fleeting amount of time that buys us. Better to have a massive rush of a mild strain than the "slow burn" of deadly Delta for months at a time.
But now that we've all lived with this for two years we know that today's immunity is only as good as tomorrow's variant, and only people that vax and boost carry immunity indefinitely. We are all at the mercy of that next roll of the variant dice because the unvaxxed both provide the virus with an easy way to gain a foothold in the population, and provide a breeding ground for new variants.
IF Omicron quickly builds this herd immunity before a new variant can take off, we have a CHANCE of some normalcy coming back.
and IF a new variant continues the Omicron trend of trading better transmissiblity for less severity, well that's good too because covid might just "fade into the background" and becomes no more serious that the cold or flu.
on the other hand if some variant like Delta shows up......... HERE WE GO AGAIN.
We'll know a LOT more when we get to the end of February.