This is a case update. I’ll also briefly discuss the Omicron variant, the possibility of a vaccine against Omicron, and whether COVID is now endemic.

Cases in the US continue increase, with cases rising particularly in the Northeast, in states like New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Michigan.

In California and San Diego County, cases are still stable, at a rate about as high as last Summer, but lower than the peak of Delta. Just hours ago, California Public Health and the CDC have announced that a patient with the Omicron variant has been detected in California. They had returned from South African on the 22nd, and the case was detected on the 29th.

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UPDATE: December 1st, 1:00 pm
Just hours ago, California Public Health and the CDC have announced that a patient with the Omicron variant has been detected in California. They had returned from South African on the 22nd, and the case was detected on the 29th.
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UPDATE: December 2nd, 2021
2 more cases of Omicron have been detected, in Minnesota and Colorado. The case in California and Colorado were in individuals who were fully vaccinated. All individuals have had mild symptoms so far.

Hours after reporting the above, another 5 cases of Omicron were reported in New York City. Suffice it to say, it’s now clear that Omicron is in the US and is already nation wide. I’m sure a lot more cases will be reported soon.

Most new cases of a new strain can only be reported after expensive and time consuming sequencing testing has been performed, so these results will come out more slowly than just a COVID detection.

I’m going to stop reporting individual new cases, since the point has been made that Omicron is in the US.
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World wide, cases are climbing at the moment, with big increases in several European countries. Several countries have reported the detection of the Omicron variant, but so far only a few cases in each country are due to Omicron, so the big increase in cases may be due to Delta and the onset of Winter.

Vaccine against Omicron: So far, Delta is still the majority of cases world wide. Even in South Africa, only about 20% of the COVID cases are suspected to be due to the Omicron variant as of this writing. But because of the large number of mutations in the Omicron variant, scientists are concerned that the current batch of vaccines will not work against Omicron.

I saw an interview with Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer. He stated that Pfizer could have a vaccine against Omicron ready for distribution in 100 days. Interestingly, Bourla also said in the interview that they had designed a vaccine against Delta, but they hadn’t released it because the original vaccine worked well against Delta. I was very discouraged by this comment. Many countries, including Israel, have been reporting that the vaccines have only been about 40-50% effective against Delta, and even the CDC admitted in July that 15% of COVID deaths have been in vaccinated individuals. I seems the me that the vaccines against the Wuhan strain have not worked well against Delta, and that vaccines against Delta should have been released. The comment seems to be evidence that Pfizer is not fully absorbing data on vaccine effectiveness from around the world.

Is COVID endemic?: I had hoped that once the vaccines came out, we would be able to generate enough immunity (natural and vaccine related) against COVID that it would go away. With 2 major variants that can evade the vaccine already out (Delta and Omicron), I’m becoming more convinced that COVID is indeed endemic at this point, meaning that it will continue to mutate, circulate, and be part of the fabric of life from here on out.

My personal strategy has been to avoid infection and vaccination until it all blows over. I’m becoming convinced that this will not work. So should I get vaccinated now? I’m concerned that Omicron might trigger the ADE pathway and cause worse symptoms for those with immunity to SARS-2. For this reason, I’m going to continue to keep myself SARS-2 free until more is known. Regardless of vaccination status, I encourage you to take some extra precautions until more is known about Omicron. Concern is good, panic is bad.

A glimmer of hope: As stated in Monday’s post, South African Doctor Angelique Coetzee has stated that her COVID patients have had very mild COVID symptoms. Her patients are mostly young people. If symptoms from Omicron are mild in older patients, and the new variant is very infectious, that there is a small chance that it will present a safe and effective way to provide immunity to lots of people. Of course, we will need to wait a few weeks to see.

Don’t fear, but be smart!
Erik