Status: 04.01.2022 5:00 p.m.
How to deal with Omicron? The number of cases under the influence of the new coronavirus variant is increasing rapidly, the course of the disease seems to be milder according to new data. Christian Drosten speaks in the NDR Info Podcast Coronavirus Update about the booster vaccination as protection and how to deal with quarantine times.
“Omikron will slowly take over the business and will also dominate us at the end of January,” says the chief virologist at the Berlin Charité in the new one Podcast episode. Because, in contrast to many other countries, measures to combat the corona pandemic are still in force in Germany, the increase is currently even slower than, for example, in England or the USA, where more than a million new infections were registered in one day for the first time on Tuesday. In Germany, a doubling time is currently assumed every four days, in other countries this value was already around 2 at the beginning of the Omikron wave.
Data from London: Risk of hospitalization falling
The good news: “What is called the burden of disease is becoming increasingly decoupled,” says Drosten. “We saw that at the end of the delta wave and that’s because of the booster vaccinations.” In addition, with an Omicron infection, fewer Covid patients have ended up in the intensive care unit, and a smaller proportion of those infected have to go to hospital. This is suggested by data from Great Britain, which were collected before Christmas.
In the study by Imperial College London, for example, the risk of having to go to hospital with an Omicron infection is up to 30 percent lower than with an infection with the Delta variant. For people who have been vaccinated twice, the risk is reduced by 34 percent, and for people with a booster vaccination, the probability of hospitalization is reduced by as much as 63 percent. “So what really protects against Omikron is a triple vaccination,” says Drosten. The strong focus that is being placed on booster vaccination is correct.
The risk of hospitalization is also reduced for those who have not been vaccinated
As the only study so far, the London study also filters out the risk of hospitalization for unvaccinated people. For this group it is 24 percent lower compared to Delta. “This is initially good news for the many unvaccinated people that we unfortunately have in Germany,” says Drosten. But there is also a bad one: In view of the approximately three million unvaccinated people over 60 years old alone, the scientist assumes that in this group there will inevitably be infections and diseases with different courses due to the high infectivity of Omikron. In addition, the English data on Omikron come from an early phase of the wave, there remain residual uncertainties and question marks: “It would be premature to say based on the observations from England: It’s not all that bad,” says Drosten.
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Danish study: Omikron has a higher infection rate
A study from Denmark also shows how important booster vaccinations are. Accordingly, only a third dose significantly lowers the risk of being infected with Omikron. The survey from December 2021 examined in Danish households how the secondary attack rate of the virus compares between the delta and omicron variants, i.e. how high the rate of those who have direct contact with an infected person is and get infected with this.
Result of examined 2,225 Omikron and 9,712 Delta primary cases: With Omikron, the infection rate in the entire group was 31 percent, with Delta 21 percent. For those who had been vaccinated twice, the ratio was 32:19, and for those who were three times vaccinated it was 25:11.
Drosten: “Triple vaccination makes the difference”
The value of the booster vaccination shows even better the odds ratio of getting infected. According to the study, it is just as high for an unvaccinated person with an omicron infection as for people who have been vaccinated twice. In the case of people who have been vaccinated three times, however, it drops by 54 percent. “The double vaccination will probably contribute less to the spread control with Omikron. We are pretty unprotected there,” concludes Drosten. “The triple vaccination makes the difference.”
Debate about quarantine duration
In Germany, too, you will soon see a very steep increase, says the expert. But even if milder courses are to be expected: people do get sick and a less severe course can bring symptoms up to fever and the onset of shortness of breath. If a large number of people are absent at the same time, this could become a problem for some areas of the critical infrastructure: in hospitals, in care, in food supply, in traffic. Drosten considers shortening the quarantine time to be an important consideration, because: “If someone who was only a contact person has to stay at home for 14 days to be on the safe side, you will lose a lot of workers with the Omikron wave, which floods very quickly . That would be a great social damage, and from a political point of view, of course, that has to be averted. “
“If someone who was only a contact person has to stay at home for 14 days to be on the safe side, you will lose a lot of workers in the Omikron wave, which floods very quickly.”
Christian Drosten
Currently, isolation (infected persons) and quarantine (contact persons of infected persons) each have 14 days. At least in essential areas, the quarantine time should be shortened, says Drosten. If contact persons were no longer quarantined at all, this would of course be done in the knowledge that people would be there who would pass the virus on. That has to be weighed up: “There is a difficult political debate to be held in the next few days.” On Friday, the federal and state governments will also discuss the quarantine regulation.
Drosten: Infection is no training for the immune system
The virologist expressly warns against the apparently widespread assumption that it is better to go through the infection than to be vaccinated in view of the less severe courses. This reflex is particularly understandable in young people, says Drosten. But young people also risk lung damage with a Covid 19 infection, which can creep in. And it is a mistake that you can “train” your immune system with an infection. “We’re talking about one specific infection. By reading one In Buchs, I don’t increase my intelligence either. “Many infectious diseases initially even damage the immune system.” This is what distinguishes vaccination from infection, “explains Drosten:” The memory-building effect is there, the immune-weakening effect is excluded. “
Note: The next regular episode of the Coronavirus update will be released on January 18, 2022.
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