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The study adjusted for vaccine status [0] but was still comparing things to the initial wave in 2020, which is strange and I would like to know their justificat
by ineedasername 5y ago
The study adjusted for vaccine status [0] but was still comparing things to the initial wave in 2020, which is strange and I would like to know their justification for that.
For a bit more of an apples-to-apples comparison they should be comparing omicron hospitalization & fatality rates to those of non-omicron variants over the same period of time. It doesn't look like they've done that, and I'm not aware of a study that has systematically done this (yet).
It would certainly be a holiday-season gift if we shifted to a more virulent but less serious variant, but I'll hold out for a bit more information before I completely buy into that narrative. That can be difficult: people want to believe some good news here. Heck, my initial gut reaction was to push back against your objections but my career has trained me to resist that sort of thing. It won't be good for the erosion of trust in the media if they've jumped the gun on this and Omicron doesn't turn out the way we hope it will.
https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/news-room https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/news-room
- JamesBarney 5y agoDid they also adjust for previous infection?
- ineedasername 5y agoNot that I can tell (EDIT: They did, see comment further down) This seems to be research release by PR, not a published study. Although even if they adjusted for prior infections they should still be comparing comparable time periods. It is really odd if they didn't, and odd if they did do it but the results weren't included in the release. The initial 2020 wave is a reasonable baseline, but not a good measure of relative risk factors between variants right now especially because 2020 didn't include Delta.
- ___q 5y agoYes > For individuals who have had COVID-19 previously, the risk of reinfection with Omicron is significantly higher, relative to prior variants.
- ineedasername 5y agoThanks-- I missed that in my read through.
- JamesBarney 5y agoIt also says the specifically did not adjust for previous infection when calculating severity.