Omicron, Will It Be Our Saving Grace?

Omicron, Will It Be Our Saving Grace? Posted By:
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As we embark into 2022, we must pay attention to what our world—specifically our country—has, is, and will experience with the Omicron COVID-19 variant. As of this writing during the week of January 9, 2022, there have been 64,130,148 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 2020. The CDC reports that the vast majority of cases thus far in January 2022 are related to the Omicron variant (98.3%), and the number of deaths has not been as high as past strains. As someone who has just endured the virus myself, I reflect on what this will mean for our population moving forward. Have we come to the crossroads where the virus is on its way to becoming endemic and no longer a pandemic? Should we prepare our health system to expect variations of this disease for years to come? How do we, as practitioners, modify our behaviors to work and live with this disease moving forward? There are so many unknowns.

This post was written because we are at a tipping point in history. We, our patients, and our communities have endured a long, hard road over the last several years. The price that we have incurred is massive, and its pressure on our communities has been tremendous. We must persevere to ensure our patients remain safe, healthy, and happy. I am hopeful that we will get through this strain with minor morbidity and can recalculate the cost to our system and how we move ahead.

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Filed under: Infectious Diseases , Public Health

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