The emergence of the Omicron variant, a new strain of COVID-19, has the world on edge as health care organizations monitor its spread. The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE), gathered on Thanksgiving to assess variant B.1.1.529, otherwise known as Omicron.
Omicron, which was first confirmed in South Africa on November 24, has increased its spread throughout the country and others, including Denmark, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Botswana, Israel, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, France, and Canada. It has been dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO) as researchers explore its level of contagiousness.
Chair of the South African Medical Association, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, reported to Reuters that Omicron patients have been exhibiting milder symptoms than those infected with the recent Delta variant, and have not been losing their senses of taste and smell. Dr. Coetzee has stated that her patients were showing symptoms of fatigue, with a combination of body aches and headaches. “Symptoms at that stage [were] very much related to normal viral infection,” she explained.
With information still being limited, travel bans against South Africa have been put into place by the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and other countries around the globe. This has sparked a negative response from the South African government, which claims it, along with other African countries, have been disproportionately singled out amongst the nations with confirmed cases of the new variant. “The only thing [travel bans] … will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to … the pandemic,” stated South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. They have already seen a dip in several markets.
Some countries, like Israel, have taken bans a step further to bar all foreign entry in order to prevent the spread of the new variant.
The WHO has advised against travel bans until Omicron has been studied more extensively.
In the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that it will take up to two weeks for more concrete information to be available regarding the spread of Omicron. In a statement released by the White House, Fauci apparently noted that the current vaccines available “are likely to provide a degree of protection against severe cases of COVID”.
Governor Charlie Baker has voiced his support for the U.S. travel ban on South Africa, stating, “This is the right move until the medical community can learn more about this new variant,” on his Twitter account. Baker’s administration announced that Massachusetts hospitals facing capacity shortages will have to limit their non-urgent procedures to make room for the increasing number of Covid cases. 5,058 new cases were reported last Friday, with 24 new deaths. The number of hospitalized patients in Massachusetts is the highest it has been since March 1 at 771.
Local healthcare professionals are divided on the county’s travel ban, with some fully in favor, and others referring to it as a “weak tool” in the fight against COVID-19.
“There’s a lot of unknowns with the omicron variant that was announced, but I think like all the other variants, we want to be cautious moving forward and so I do support what the Biden administration has done with regards to restricting travel until we have more data,” explained Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Hospital.
Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha disagrees with Gov. Baker and Dr. Wildes regarding the travel ban, expressing that a ban may discourage the sharing of information as new strains arise.
“If we impose a travel ban… the signal to the next country is if you identify a variant and share it with the global community you will be punished with a travel ban,” Dr. Jha wrote.
Dr. Jeremy Faust of Massachusetts Brigham and Women’s Hospital published a blog post addressing the possible nature of the variant. He wrote that, while it makes sense to assume Omicron is more contagious than previous variants, we may be experiencing a “founder effect”, where fears are escalated due to a lack of other diseases in an area. “This could go in any direction,” said Dr. Faust.
Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Dr. Francis Collins has been reminding U.S. citizens that there is no evidence yet to assume Omicron will be any more dangerous than previously found variants.
Despite the ongoing debates and scramble for new information, professionals have agreed upon the continuation of face masks, and encourage people to get vaccinated as the knowledge surrounding Omicron evolves.
