Recently, people have been overwhelmed by reports and warnings about the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus. Health officials have fears that this variant might spread worldwide and even surpass the Delta variant as the primary Covid-19 variant.
Although not much is known about Omicron which has just been discovered, the alarming number of mutations increase the likelihood of it being highly transmissible. This might also mean that it has a higher probability of being able to shake off immune responses compared to the other forms of Covid-19 experienced previously.
Although Omicron is not in the United States yet, experts believe that it is just a matter of time. For this reason, it is essential to learn what we can about this variant and even look at ways to prepare for it. One way to do this is by being able to identify the symptoms of this variant.
Bear in mind, however, that all information available about the Omicron variant is still preliminary. Several studies have been carried out to find out more about this variant of Covid-19, from how effective vaccines are against it, to how fast it spreads. Results will be obtained in the weeks to come.
That said, anecdotal information is still helpful in providing a better idea of what is to come. A South African doctor, Angelique Coetzee, is providing her assessment of symptoms of the Omicron variant. This assessment is based on the patients she has interacted with.
Angelique Coetzee is the chair of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and she heads her own private practice in Pretoria. She told The Telegraph that Omicron symptoms are mild but strange.
She went on to add that the patients she has treated were “feeling so tired”, which made her identify that intense fatigue is a consistent symptom of this variant. Even so, none of the patients lost their sense of smell or taste, which is regarded as a common symptom of Covid-19.
According to The Telegraph, Coetzee added, “We had one very interesting case, a kid, about six years old, with a temperature and a very high pulse rate, and I wondered if I should admit her, but when I followed up two days later she was so much better.”
Coetzee has stated that it is too soon to come up with any broad predictions about what an Omicron wave would entail for the world—or even if we will ever get there. Speaking to The Guardian, she reaffirmed that the cases she’s seen so far have been mild, but admitted that it’s too early to say whether this holds true across the entire range of Omicron infections.
She said that at this point, everything is all guesswork. It’s possible that the Omicron variant is very transmissible, but the cases they’ve seen so far have been extremely mild, adding that, “Maybe two weeks from now I will have a different opinion, but this is what we are seeing. So are we seriously worried? No. We are concerned and we watch what’s happening. But for now, we’re saying, ‘OK, there’s a whole hype out there. [We’re] not sure why.”
If Omicron causes fewer severe cases of Coronavirus, even among the unvaccinated, this could signal that the virus is approaching the endemic stage, where it will continue to spread but in a more controllable manner.
Coetzee’s interview with The Telegraph was shared on Twitter by Eric Topol, MD, the executive vice president of Scripps Research who is also a cardiologist. He said, “This could be the best Omicron news of the day if further confirmed tracking all confirmed cases … Not many have been thinking that the mutation-laden variant could decrease virulence.”
Regrettably, as Coetzee herself has admitted, it’s too early to tell if her initial assessments of cases will be accurate in the long run. It’s worth noting that her patients were mostly healthy young people who, irrespective of the variant, are more probable to have a milder Coronavirus case.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Coetzee voiced concerns about how Omicron would affect the elderly, especially those with established COVID comorbidities such as diabetes and heart disease.