The new Omicron variant, which was first discovered in South Africa, is spreading at an astonishingly fast pace across the globe. Efforts to contain its spread, like travel bans, have proven unsuccessful. In many countries, like the United Kingdom or Denmark, Covid cases are rising as fast as they never have before, fueled by an increasing share of Omicron cases. These countries have high vaccination rates, which leads to another case for concern: The Omicron variant seems to evade both the immunity gained through infection as well as the immunity provided by vaccines.
All of this seems worrisome, and some even fear a setback to the phase of the pandemic before vaccines were widely available. Doctors and health experts have warned of the new wave of covid patients that could overwhelm health systems around the world.
So much of the bad news, now it is time for some good news. And there is indeed a reason for hope, due to one main reason: Omicron cases are milder than cases of Delta or other previous Covid variants. There is still a lot of uncertainty, and new research is being released on a daily basis, but so far it can be concluded that significantly fewer people who are infected with the Omicron variant become so ill that they have to be treated in the hospital, and of those who need hospital care fewer have to be transferred to the ICU. This also leads to fewer deaths.
For example, while Omicron cases are skyrocketing in South Africa, where the variant was first discovered, deaths remain low. While many point out that a reason for this may be the countries relatively young population, in previous waves there had still been a significant number of deaths. For now, during the Omicron wave, deaths remain low.
The reason for this could be that the new variant is simply less deadly than previous variants. This is backed by a study from a study of scientists from Hong Kong, who have found that Omicron growth was 10 times lower in the human lung issue.
Another reason could be protection from vaccines and previous infections. While South Africa has a relatively low vaccination rate, with only 25% fully vaxxed at the beginning of December, it has a high rate of natural immunity from exposure to the virus. Experts estimate that almost the entire countries' population has already been infected.
So while vaccines and natural immunity may not prevent infections, they may protect against severe illness. Especially in combination with booster shots, which experts have found to raise the effectiveness of the protection against the Omicron variant, there is little reason to suggest that the pandemic may become even more horroful as before, as some believe.
Instead, it seems that we are now heading towards a new phase in the pandemic, a phase which may lead to the pandemics' end. Covid will not go away, it will likely become endemic, but it will be less dangerous. It will not be as severe a health crisis as it has been the past two years.
We are not yet in that phase, and even with fewer critical cases of Covid, increasingly high infection rates still place an incredible burden on hospitals. But growing protection through vaccines and natural immunity combined with the lower severity of the Omicron variant will mean that soon, the terrible horrors of the pandemic may be left behind us.
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