Boosters to give omicron the boot?
USA approaches 800,000 deaths as White House braces for another COVID Winter; WHO urges caution on travel as new variant spread confirmed in 23 nations
With the announcement of the first confirmed case of omicron COVID-19 Wednesday, the White House Thursday will announce stricter testing requirements for arriving international travelers, expanded access to at-home COVID-19 tests, and hundreds of new pop-up vaccine sites where families can all get vaccinated together.
To date, more than 782,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. The current trend indicates that we will pass the 800,000 death mark before Christmas.
What to know now:
If you have been vaccinated but not yet received a booster, get the booster shot as soon as you can. Even if we don’t yet know how well the vaccines hold up against the omicron variant, there is good reason to believe the vaccines provide important protection nonetheless — and delta is still dominating new cases in the USA. We should have data on how well the vaccines thwart omicron in another week or so.
Upgrade to a real “N95” mask if you are spending time near other people in enclosed places — like on an airplane. Skip the “KN95” masks, as authorities continue finding counterfeit ones that are less protective. If a mask has ear loops, it’s fake. Real N95s have two elastic bands that go around the back of the head.
The existing mask requirement for public transit and air travelers will be extended until March. (ICYMI: Here’s another large study showing that masks really do prevent infections and save lives.)
The CDC soon will publish a new “Safe School Checklist” to help educators keep kids in school safely, including how to manage positive cases, increase vaccination rates and adopt “test to stay” policies that allow some students who test positive to stay in school with precautions.
Winter strategy: Get boosted now
The Biden Administration COVID-19 “Winter Plan” also includes a big push for every adult to get booster shots.
“Boosters increase the strength of your antibody response, so when the virus mutates, a booster makes it more likely that your antibodies can protect you against the new variant,” said a senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition that their name would not be used.
The campaign will include outreach by pharmacies to people who got their first COVID-19 shots, town halls and other programs produced by AARP, free rides to vaccine sites and vaccine clinics with evening and weekend hours.
The effort will be especially targeted at getting booster shots to those 65 and older, of whom only about half have received boosters so far. Data from Israel and other places indicate that booster shots can significantly reduce illness and death among vulnerable elderly people.
Omicron detected in California traveler
The first U.S. omicron case is in a man who arrived in San Francisco from South Africa on November 22. The individual had mild symptoms and has been self-quarantining, according to White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged wealthy nations to do more to get vaccines distributed to poorer ones and use testing and quarantine instead of travel bans.
“Globally, we have a toxic mix of low vaccine coverage, and very low testing – a recipe for breeding and amplifying variants,” he said.
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