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home / 世界杯决赛2022

omicron may signal pandemic is winding down: danish expert

there may be light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. t...

by liz braun

jan 3 2022
read time 2 minute read
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there may be light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
tyra grove krause, chief epidemiologist at denmark’s state serum institute, said monday that the omicron variant may spell the end of the pandemic.
as other scientists have noted, the risk of hospitalization from omicron is about half that of the delta variant; according to krause, danish authorities are hopeful this means the end of the pandemic within months.

on monday, krause told the daily mail , “i think we will have that in the next two months, and then i hope the infection will start to subside and we get our normal lives back.”

and she is quoted in the guardian saying, “this may be what is going to lift us out of the pandemic, so that this becomes the last wave of corona.”

krause emphasized that it’s too soon to celebrate, however. while omicron may help general immunity and should decline by february, there is still the difficult month of january to get through.
she says it is crucial that people resume health measures such as distancing, masking, hand hygiene and avoiding crowds — and staying home whenever possible.
anyone with symptoms, which can mimic a cold or allergies, is urged to stay home. despite omicron’s comparatively milder symptoms, it is still deadly to many and through sheer numbers, it could swamp our health care system.
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this time around a surge of patients is only part of the issue — exhausted health care workers, many infected with omicron themselves, are in increasingly short supply.
still, scientists are cautiously optimistic that omicron signals a move from pandemic to endemic.
the endemic phase of the disease means it will continue to be part of seasonal illnesses — such as flu or the common cold — and likewise far less menacing to the general population. it will continue to be a threat to the vulnerable, however, just as other comparatively benign diseases (again, like the flu) continue to be.

as angela rasmussen, a virologist at the university of saskatchewan in canada tells vox , it’s too soon to tell if omicron will delay endemicity or speed it up, and an overburdened health care system hangs in the balance.

and the world health organization (who) has warned for months that no end will come to the pandemic unless vaccines are available to all.
key to moving from pandemic to endemic is global vaccination.
“if we put an end to inequality, we will put an end to the pandemic and the global nightmare that we have all gone through,” said who director general tedro’s adhanom ghebreyesus.
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