No One Is Scared of Omicron and Even Some Doctors are Shrugging It Off – Opinion

You’re getting an unexpected Christmas gift this year, and surprisingly it’s from the COVID-19 virus itself. You’ll be happy to know that it’s gone through the steps many other viruses take and has become highly contagious but far less deadly than its original variant.

But this isn’t new news, which is why few people actually seem to be afraid of it. A poll by Axios/Ipsos shows that fear is lessened and there will be family celebrations throughout the country this Christmas. The Daily Caller has the following poll results.

However, the majority of respondents were not likely to make major changes to their holiday plans. Only 23% stated that they will cancel travel plans for holiday, while 28% indicated they intend to cease gathering with family members. A third of respondents said that they would stop dining at indoor restaurants. Omicron influenced sixty-two per cent of those surveyed.

Omicron has been confirmed to be making its way through America quickly and definitely. However, Omicron symptoms are extremely mild. They mirror the common cold more so than a ravaging viral infection according to a ZOE CoVID Symptoms study.

The CDC predicts that COVID-19-related deaths will rise by a staggering 73 percent. However, Angelique Coetzee, a doctor who discovered Omicron, believes everyone is reacting too quickly to this virus. Angelique Coetzee is a GP who chairs the South African Medical Association. She believes you need to continue practicing masking and social distancing but that the world must be calmer regarding Omicron.

Coetzee noted Omicron’s symptoms are body aches, headache, fatigue, and possibly a scratchy throat with a dry cough, but no loss of smell or taste or a need for oxygen.

“Most of our patients have these mild symptoms. Vaccinated patients have them as well, but the myalgia, headache, and tiredness are not as severe for them as they are among the unvaccinated,” Coetzee said.

(READ: Reports Show Omicron Is the Least Severe Variant of COVID-19 Yet)

Warner Greene is the Director of Center for HIV Cure Research, Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco. He sees Omicron’s mildness as a positive thing and hopes that this will push Delta to become the dominant COVID-19 variant.

(READ: Joe Biden’s Latest Message on COVID Should Anger You)

“It would be a great thing if, in fact, omicron crowded out delta. If omicron was a less pathogenic virus,” said Greene.

To boot, in South Africa where it’s thought to originate, Omicron hospitalizations are falling rapidly according to Bloomberg:

At a press conference, Joe Phaahla stated that only 1.7% of Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital during the second week. That compares with 19% for the same period of the third wave.

Omicron, although still in its initial stages, is possible to get a mild form of the virus. If this happens you could be at risk of developing a cold.

With the virus this mild, it’s likely that the fear of COVID-19 will fall along with hospitalization rates, effectively making the fear of the virus just as done as the pandemic.