Severity Of Omicron Subvariant Cases Expected To Match Original, WHO Says

Reuters: Omicron Subvariant BA.2 Likely To Have Same Severity As 'Original' - WHO
The emerging BA.2 form of the Omicron coronavirus variant does not seem to be any more severe than the original BA.1 form, an official of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Based on data from Denmark, the first country where BA.2 overtook BA.1, there appears to be no difference in disease severity, although BA.2 has the potential to replace BA.1 globally, said Dr. Boris Pavlin of the WHO's COVID-19 Response Team. (2/1)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

Axios: CDC: COVID Hospitalization Rates Higher For Unvaccinated Than Boosted 
Unvaccinated people, who contracted coronavirus during the Omicron wave, were 23 times more likely to be hospitalized, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study, which examined data from Los Angeles County, found that incidence and hospitalization rates during the Omicron wave were "consistently highest" for unvaccinated people. The study underlined that staying "up to date" with coronavirus vaccination can profoundly decrease the likelihood of infection and hospitalization. (Reyes, 2/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Epidemic Among The Unvaccinated’ In A California COVID ICU
Ten men and women lie sedated in 10 dim, glass-enclosed rooms, most unable to breathe without help from a machine. On the third floor of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, these patients are among more than 2,500 people gravely ill with COVID-19 in California’s intensive-care beds. It’s Thursday morning, and 46 patients are fighting the coronavirus, some battling hard to stay off the third floor. In the era of vaccinations and antiviral treatments — and even the coronavirus’ famously less severe variant, omicron — people aren’t supposed to get so sick from COVID. (Asimov, 2/1)

Fox News: COVID-19 Hospitalizations In Midwest, South Begin To Fall
Hospitalizations in several states across the U.S. are reportedly declining, as the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to drive the daily American death toll up. In the South, the number of Alabamans hospitalized with COVID-19 has decreased about 5% in the last week. Statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health showed 2,805 people were being treated for the illness on Monday; that number is down from 2,961 last Tuesday. While the hospitals are still struggling to manage patients amidst staff shortages, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 dropped to a still-high 36% after exceeding 40% for nearly four weeks straight. (Musto, 2/1)

The New York Times: U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries
Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic. (Mueller and Lutz, 2/1)

AP: Mississippi Reports 11th Pediatric COVID-19 Death 
An 11th pediatric coronavirus death in Mississippi was confirmed Tuesday by state health officials. The Mississippi State Department of Health said none of the patients who died had been vaccinated. (2/1)

USA Today: Spike In Child COVID Cases Leads To Rising Frequency Of MIS-C Cases
Although overall child COVID-19 case counts are on their way down in the United States, the January numbers were 3.5 times higher with the omicron variant than what was seen with the previous delta surge, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The increase in cases has resulted in more pediatric hospitalizations and the rise of a dangerous inflammatory disorder called MIS-C, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. MISC-C is a condition leading to inflammation in the body affecting organs like the heart and lungs, occurs about four weeks after infection and can cause high fever, rash, and in some children, other serious health outcomes. (Tebor, 2/2)

Detroit Free Press: Jim Frobe, A Popular Santa In Michigan, Dies From COVID-19 Complications
Jim Frobe was a renaissance man. He worked hard as a truck driver by day. He was a clown for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a Santa for the Festival of Trees organization during his off-hours. Whenever he could find a spare minute, he was a passionate and talented musician. Frobe died Dec. 8, one day after his 80th birthday, due to complications from COVID-19, his son, Patrick Frobe, told the Free Press. (Stein, 2/1)

Also —

Bloomberg: Pregnant Women With Covid Are Unlikely to Transmit to Babies
Pregnant women who are positive with Covid-19 when they give birth rarely transmit the virus to their newborns, according to a spate of new research. The reason: Covid isn’t often found in a patient’s bloodstream. As researchers have raced to understand the effects of Covid on pregnancy and infants, these findings offer good news to expecting parents. “Analyses show that infection among infants born to women with Covid-19 was uncommon,” said Kate Woodworth, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease and Prevention. (Muller, 2/1)

Fox News: 'Long COVID' Patients Leave ‘Antibody Signature’ That May Help Predict Syndrome, Study Says
COVID-19 patients may not need to wait long after being infected to know if they will develop post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), also known as long COVID, according to a paper published this week in Nature Communications. "We want to be able to recognize and identify, as early as possible, who is at risk of developing long COVID," said Dr. Onur Boyman, a co-author of the study and researcher in the department of immunology at University Hospital Zurich. "The most frequent symptoms of long COVID are reported to be fatigue, dyspnea [shortness of breath], and cognitive impairment (also termed 'brain fog,' which includes loss of concentration and memory), as well as pain and aches at different sites (including headache), cough, change in smell or taste, and diarrhea," the study said. (Sudhakar, 2/1)

USA Today: Why Do Americans Keep Taking Ivermectin For COVID Despite FDA Warnings? Hundreds Of Doctors Continue To Prescribe It.
Contrary to scientific evidence and warnings from health agencies, hundreds of doctors nationwide continue to prescribe ivermectin – encouraged by a little-known national group of physicians – to prevent and treat COVID-19. During the omicron wave they've been busier than ever, writing tens of thousands of prescriptions. Many of the doctors follow treatment guidelines set by an organization called the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which promotes the controversial drug along with other unproven therapies. (Rodriguez, 2/2)

CNBC: Covid Will Never Become An Endemic Virus, Scientist Warns
Covid-19 will never become an endemic illness and will always behave like an epidemic virus, an expert in biosecurity has warned. Raina MacIntyre, a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, told CNBC that although endemic disease can occur in very large numbers, the number of cases does not change rapidly as seen with the coronavirus. “If case numbers do change [with an endemic disease], it is slowly, typically over years,” she said via email. “Epidemic diseases, on the other hand, rise rapidly over periods of days to weeks.” (Taylor, 2/2)