COVID variants

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Out of South Africa, a 'Tantalizing Hint' on Omicron

Case count is dropping, at least in recent days

(Newser) - A new study out of South Africa offers some positive news on the omicron variant, but with an asterisk. The study, which appeared Tuesday in the preprint medical publication MedRxiv , found that South Africans who came down with the omicron variant were 80% less likely to be hospitalized compared to...

Scientists Playing 'Long Game' Have Big Vaccine News

US Army researchers say they have a COVID vaccine that fights all variants, even future ones

(Newser) - With the chaotic entry of omicron onto the pandemic stage, there's concern that current vaccines may not be as effective against this variant as they were against others. Which is why news out of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is especially noteworthy: Defense One reports that scientists...

Antibody Treatments Aren't Working Against Omicron

Antiviral drugs appear to still be effective

(Newser) - In yet more bad news about the omicron variant of COVID-19, hospitals have found that two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments that have been keeping serious disease at bay for many coronavirus patients do not appear to work against this variant. The one that still does is, not surprisingly,...

Health Care Workers Must Get Booster Shots in This State

California Gov. Gavin Newsom makes the announcement on Twitter

(Newser) - California health care workers will be required to have coronavirus booster shots to ensure that hospitals are ready to deal with a surge in cases as the more-transmissible omicron variant spreads throughout the state, the AP reports. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the order Tuesday on his personal Twitter account and...

Ohio Hospitals' One-Word Plea on COVID: 'Help'

Medical centers in Cleveland area, Minnesota beg people to get vaxxed in major newspaper ads

(Newser) - One word dominates a full-page advertisement that appeared in Sunday's Plain Dealer, Ohio's biggest newspaper. "Help," reads the bold-font plea, surrounded by white space, smack in the middle of the ad placed by the heads of six of the Cleveland area's medical facilities to try...

Better Omicron News Emerges in South Africa

Hospitalizations are down significantly when compared to the delta wave

(Newser) - Stories raising the alarm about the fast-spreading omicron variant aren't hard to find. For example, Britain estimates that 200,000 people are becoming infected with it each day at this point, notes the New York Times . And the same trend appears inevitable in the US. "No part of...

Study Suggests Omicron Multiplies 70 Times Faster

Even if variant is less deadly, researchers say toll could be high because it will spread so widely

(Newser) - Researchers may have a clue to why the omicron variant is spreading so quickly, and what its advantage could be over the original and delta strains. Omicron multiplies in a person's bronchial tubes 70 times faster than the other two varieties, a study by the University of Hong Kong...

Metal Band Named Omicron Says It Won&#39;t Change Its Name
Death-Metal Band's Name
Has Unfortunate Timing
in case you missed it
Dec 12, 2021 8:45 AM CST

Death-Metal Band's Name Has Unfortunate Timing

Belgian group Omicron says it's named after a constellation, not the latest coronavirus variant

(Newser) - Even bad publicity is supposedly good publicity, but whoever coined that phrase likely wasn't part of a death-metal band that shared its name with a coronavirus variant. Such a band formed two years ago, before COVID had overtaken the globe, and now the little-known Belgian group Omicron (which has...

Study Finds 'All Our Efforts' on Vaccines Not 'Trash' After All

Pfizer vaccine does appear to offer some protection against omicron, researchers find

(Newser) - When the omicron variant of COVID-19 first surfaced, a South Africa virologist was concerned it had evolved a new way of infecting cells, making vaccine antibodies entirely worthless. "Then all our efforts would be trash," Dr. Alex Sigal tells the New York Times . But, fortunately, that didn't...

Dow Having a Strong Morning as Fears Ease
Dow Rises 600 Points
on Easing Omicron Fears
MARKETS
Dec 6, 2021 10:25 AM CST

Dow Rises 600 Points on Easing Omicron Fears

Investors in a better mood about the new COVID strain

(Newser) - Fears about omicron have helped hammer the stock market of late. Now, hopes that the new COVID strain won't be so bad appears to be doing the opposite, reports the Wall Street Journal . In early trading Monday, the Dow was up about 600 points, or 1.7%, while the...

Strategy May Not Change for Omicron

WHO official says target should remain the delta variant

(Newser) - Dr. Sikhulile Moyo was analyzing COVID-19 samples in his lab in Botswana last week when he noticed they looked startlingly different from others. Within days, the world was ablaze with the news that the coronavirus had a new variant of concern—one that appears to be driving a dramatic surge...

Omicron Is in at Least 5 States
Omicron Is in at Least 5 States
Dec 3, 2021 12:34 AM CST

Omicron Is in at Least 5 States

Cases reported in New York, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, California

(Newser) - The omicron variant of COVID-19, which had been undetected in the US before the middle of this week, had been discovered in at least five states by the end of Thursday, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease. Just a day...

In Case of Surgeon With Omicron, Cause for Optimism

So far, just one of his many contacts has also tested positive

(Newser) - Dr. Elad Maor returned to Israel from a cardiology conference in London last week, thrice testing negative for COVID-19 before leaving the UK and after arriving back home. So he worked as usual, attending a hospital staff meeting, seeing patients, attending another cardiology conference, eating with colleagues, visiting with relatives,...

Omicron Was in Europe Before South Africa Raised the Alarm

First cases reported in Brazil, Japan

(Newser) - Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm. The Netherlands' RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from...

CDC Strengthens Booster Advice
CDC Strengthens
Booster Advice
Nov 29, 2021 6:07 PM CST

CDC Strengthens Booster Advice

Agency now says everyone over 18 who is eligible should get another shot

(Newser) - While much is unknown about the new omicron COVID variant—including how effective existing vaccines are against it—the CDC is urging people not to take any chances. The agency strengthened its advice Monday to say that people over 18 should get a booster shot, New York Times reports. Earlier...

South Africa President: Omicron Travel Bans Are Discriminatory

Cyril Ramaphosa says they won't stop the spread, must be lifted now

(Newser) - Travel bans are increasingly being put into place against South Africa amid fears related to the COVID-19 variant newly identified there, and the president of the country is not happy. The bans, which have been implemented in places including the US, Canada, UK, Israel, EU, and Japan, are not backed...

Fauci Says US Could Face 'Fifth Wave' as Omicron Spreads

More cases are detected in several nations

(Newser) - With nations around the world rushing to limit the spread of the latest coronavirus variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the US has "the potential to go into a fifth wave" of the pandemic. The omicron strain, first detected in South Africa, has not been found in the...

Germany and Italy Report Variant Cases
New Variant Found
in More Countries
Nov 27, 2021 5:15 PM CST

New Variant Found in More Countries

Fauci says it wouldn't surprise him to learn the omicron strain is in the US

(Newser) - Germany and Italy reported confirmed cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus on Saturday. The UK already had said two people there have the new strain. The two German cases involved travelers in Munich who had arrived from Cape Town, CNN reports, while the patient in Italy had come...

2 Planes Flew in From South Africa. 61 People Had COVID

Dutch authorities are now testing passengers to see if they have worrisome omicron variant

(Newser) - Two flights arrived in the Netherlands on Friday, bearing some 600 passengers from South Africa, and also a good number of COVID cases—and those people are now being tested to see if they've got the newly emerging omicron variant . Reuters reports that 61 of the flights' passengers who...

Global Reaction to Variant Angers South Africa

Government and travel industry feel punished for transparency and scientists' quick work

(Newser) - South Africa's government and travel industry have responded angrily to travel restrictions imposed by the US, Britain and other nations over the latest coronavirus variant . Health Minister Joe Phaahla, at a press conference Friday, said the travel bans "are completely against the norms and standards as guided by...

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