6 ms·

I read vaguely that South Africa had a surge in hospitalizations (implication being from omicovid), is true?

NicoJuicy 5y ago
Yes. Reason: Low vaccination (25%) and major spread. But: no breathing devices required anymore, no fatalities related to purely omnicron and 8,5 days average hospital stay lowered to 2,5 days. So "seems" much better. Main issue could be reinfection odds and effectiveness of vaccines depending on severity of the virus ( seems ok for now).
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  Plus, one out of five South Africans has AIDS.
  - chirau 5y ago
    1) What does this have to do with anything? 2) Check your facts, HIV is not AIDS.
    - sterlind 5y ago
      Devil's advocate: 1. Significant chunk of the population is immunocompromised, which is epidemiologically relevant in extrapolating disease severity. 2. HIV permanently reduces T-cell levels by 30% or so, even before AIDS kicks in. This happens during seroconversion. Tactlessly delivered by GP though.
    - nate_meurer 5y ago
      We're in the middle of a pandemic caused by a virus that is plausibly theorized to dwell, reproduce, and mutate at higher rates in immunocompromised populations. In addition, the course of the disease tends to be drastically worse for immunocompromised individuals. It's a bit of a mystery that Southern African countries haven't been harder hit. If you'd thought about this for just a moment without succumbing to knee-jerk emotion, this might have been obvious to you.
      - chirau 5y ago
        If you'd also have taken some time to think that an individual in the western world is more prone to the flu virus than a person in Sub-Saharan African is, you would understand where my concern arises from. Your 'immunocompromised' score at this point in this pandemic is probably higher ( my assumption, happy to see numbers ) than an individual in SSA. So again what exactly is the relevance of your point and do you know the difference between HIV and AIDS? Your claim that 1 in 5 people in South Africa has AIDS is just false and ignorant. You are using numbers of HIV for AIDS, which says a lot of your understanding of the difference between the two. Merry Christmas!

Yes. Reason: Low vaccination (25%) and major spread. But: no breathing devices required anymore, no fatalities related to purely omnicron and 8,5 days average hospital stay lowered to 2,5 days. So "seems" much better. Main issue could be reinfection odds and effectiveness of vaccines depending on severity of the virus ( seems ok for now).

nate_meurer 5y ago
Plus, one out of five South Africans has AIDS.
- chirau 5y ago
  1) What does this have to do with anything? 2) Check your facts, HIV is not AIDS.
  - sterlind 5y ago
    Devil's advocate: 1. Significant chunk of the population is immunocompromised, which is epidemiologically relevant in extrapolating disease severity. 2. HIV permanently reduces T-cell levels by 30% or so, even before AIDS kicks in. This happens during seroconversion. Tactlessly delivered by GP though.
  - nate_meurer 5y ago
    We're in the middle of a pandemic caused by a virus that is plausibly theorized to dwell, reproduce, and mutate at higher rates in immunocompromised populations. In addition, the course of the disease tends to be drastically worse for immunocompromised individuals. It's a bit of a mystery that Southern African countries haven't been harder hit. If you'd thought about this for just a moment without succumbing to knee-jerk emotion, this might have been obvious to you.
    - chirau 5y ago
      If you'd also have taken some time to think that an individual in the western world is more prone to the flu virus than a person in Sub-Saharan African is, you would understand where my concern arises from. Your 'immunocompromised' score at this point in this pandemic is probably higher ( my assumption, happy to see numbers ) than an individual in SSA. So again what exactly is the relevance of your point and do you know the difference between HIV and AIDS? Your claim that 1 in 5 people in South Africa has AIDS is just false and ignorant. You are using numbers of HIV for AIDS, which says a lot of your understanding of the difference between the two. Merry Christmas!