Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Evidence Mounts That Omicron Is Easier To Spread Than Delta
Fox News: Omicron Infects 2 Fully Vaccinated Individuals In Separate Hotel Rooms, Report Says
While health officials continue to study the COVID-19 variant called Omicron, researchers in Hong Kong said the mutation infected two fully vaccinated people staying across the hall from each other inside a quarantine hotel in the city, according to a report. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong published a report that said these individuals never exited their rooms and must have come down with the virus through airborne transmission when they opened their doors for food or COVID-19 tests, Bloomberg reported. The study highlighted the "potential concern" about its transmissibility, the researchers wrote, according to the report. (DeMarche, 12/6)
Bloomberg: Omicron’s Spread Across Hotel Hall Highlights Transmission Worry
The omicron variant spread among two fully vaccinated travelers across the hallway of a Hong Kong quarantine hotel, underscoring why the highly mutated coronavirus strain is unnerving health authorities. Closed-circuit television camera footage showed neither person left their room nor had any contact, leaving airborne transmission when respective doors were opened for food collection or Covid testing the most probable mode of spread, researchers at the University of Hong Kong said in a study published Friday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. (Gale, 12/5)
In more news about omicron infection —
The Washington Post: Omicron Coronavirus Variant Possibly More Infectious Due To Sharing Genetic Code With Common Cold, Study Says
The omicron variant is likely to have picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans, according to a new preliminary study, prompting one of its authors to suggest omicron could have greater transmissibility but lower virulence than other variants of the coronavirus. Researchers from Nference, a Cambridge, Mass.-based firm that analyzes biomedical information, sequenced omicron and found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold. They say this particular mutation could have occurred in a host simultaneously infected by SARS-CoV-2, also known as the novel coronavirus, and the HCoV-229E coronavirus, which can cause the common cold. The shared genetic code with HCoV-229E has not been detected in other novel coronavirus variants, the scientists said. (Cheng, 12/4)
Axios: Prior Coronavirus Infections May Not Protect Well Against The Omicron Variant
New data from South Africa suggests the Omicron variant spreads more than twice as quickly as the Delta variant, and that immunity from prior infection doesn't appear to protect a person very well against Omicron variant. The findings are extremely preliminary, and there are still many open questions about how well vaccines work against the variant. But these initial breadcrumbs of data are helping the world begin to understand what it's up against. (Owens, 12/4)
The Guardian: Omicron: What Do We Know About The New Covid Variant?
Three major issues will determine the magnitude of the impact of the new Omicron variant of the Covid virus will have on the nation and the rest of the planet. What is the transmissibility of this new Covid variant? How good is it at evading the antibodies and T-cells that make up a person’s immune defences? What are the chances it will trigger severe illness that could lead to the hospitalisation, and possibly death, of an infected person? (McKie, 12/5)
Also —
The New York Times: Before Even Receiving a Name, Omicron Could Have Spread in New York and the Country
They wore fluorescent wigs and capes with gold tassels. They arrived in knee-high white platform boots, and with feathered wings affixed to their backs. Dressed like their favorite characters, or just wearing street clothes, they packed into Manhattan’s main convention hall — some 53,000 of them — over three days in November to celebrate their love of Japanese animation shows known as anime. In the crowd was Peter McGinn, a 30-year-old health care analyst in town from Minneapolis. He attended discussion panels, chatted with strangers about his anime podcast and, at night, sang karaoke with friends. After flying home, he learned that one friend from the convention — an anime fan from North Carolina — had just tested positive for the coronavirus. In the days to come, many more of his friends from the convention would test positive, as well. Coughing and feeling tired, Mr. McGinn also took a test. He had the virus, too. (Goldstein, Bosman, de Freytas-Tamura and Rabin, 12/5)
San Francisco Chronicle: Face Masks And Omicron: Should You Upgrade From Cloth To N95s? Double Mask?
Although Bay Area counties so far have not signaled any changes in their mask policies, the arrival of the omicron variant has many people wondering whether it’s time to double down on their masking habits — and upgrade their face coverings. Local experts say that regardless of omicron, the coming weeks are a good time to buy better masks and practice the same public health protocols from last year’s holiday surge. While little data is yet available on whether the newest variant is more infectious than delta, experts said upgrading your mask strategy is one way to reduce the risk of catching any version of the virus. (Wu, 12/5)
