New York Times throws ice-cold water on the Omicron panic

The New York Times has a new piece up titled, “Omicron Is Fast Moving, but Perhaps Less Severe, Early Reports Suggest”:

"Omicron Is Fast Moving, but Perhaps Less Severe, Early Reports Suggest" https://t.co/0vIi9hl1uO
"In Europe, as in South Africa, there are early indications that Omicron cases may be fairly mild, if easy to contract." 🤞🤞

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) December 7, 2021

Can we cancel the panic yet?

“So far, despite the huge increase in cases, Covid deaths have not risen in South Africa”:

"So far, despite the huge increase in cases, Covid deaths have not risen in South Africa". https://t.co/8TtBKxXsce

— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) December 7, 2021

But it’s not just deaths that are down. Even the cases in the hospitals are mild:

A researcher in South Africa walked into a Covid ward and found a scene unrecognizable from previous phases of the pandemic. “Out of 17 patients, four were on oxygen,” he said. “That’s not in a Covid ward for me, that’s like a normal ward.” https://t.co/pJZSfWNT7V

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) December 7, 2021

Even better? Most of these patients are hospitalized for something other than Covid:

Lots of caveats, but as Omicron has become dominant in South Africa, patients there are *much less sick* than during previous waves.

At one major hospital, "most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms."https://t.co/5j6iXWiKcv pic.twitter.com/9uMEczQOil

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) December 7, 2021

In other words, the only reason why doctors even know they have Covid is that they’re being tested for Covid:

Most of the patients were admitted “for diagnoses unrelated to Covid-19,” the report said, and their infection “is an incidental finding in these patients and is largely driven by hospital policy requiring testing of all patients.” https://t.co/2kWNKjYdJb

— Katerina Ang (@katerinareports) December 7, 2021

And, for this, NYC is putting in place a new private-sector mandate?

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