According to a body of experts that includes the Chief Medical adviser to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci, hospitalization figures should be used to understand the severity of the Omicron variant, rather than traditional case counts for new infections.
Fauci spoke with CNN about what he calls a “tsunami” when talking about the Omicron surge in the U.S.
The doctor went on to say that while they think looking at hospitalizations is good, the public should not be fooled about preliminary data suggesting the variant isn’t as severe as others.
“You have a virus that looks like it might be less severe, at least from data we’ve gathered from South Africa, the U.K., and even some from preliminary data from here in the U.S.,” Fauci told CNN.
He continued saying that the issue is complicated.
“So many people are getting infected that the net amount, the total amount of people that will require hospitalization, might be up,” Fauci said. “We can’t be complacent in these reports. We’re still going to get a lot of hospitalizations.”
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Fauci talked earlier this week about how new daily infection reports may be causing unnecessary worry when death and hospitalization data may better inform mitigation efforts, the Guardian reported.
When asked if he agreed, he said, “overall, yes.”
“This is particularly relevant if you’re having an infection that is much, much more asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic, particularly in people who are vaccinated and boosted,” Fauci said. “The real bottom line that you want to be concerned about is, are we getting protected by the vaccines from severe disease leading to hospitalization?”
When it comes to what is concerning Fauci, those who are unvaccinated are at the top of his list.
“I’m still very concerned about the tens of millions of people who are not vaccinated at all because even though many of them are going to get asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, a fair number of them are going to get severe disease,” Fauci said.
Currently, 62% of the U.S. is fully vaccinated, with 73.9% receiving at least one shot. Doctors and experts have continued their fight to get people vaccinated in order to fight severe infection or death.
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