Karagiannidis to Omikron: “A milder course – but not mild”

The head of the DIVI intensive care registry, Karagiannidis, has warned against underestimating the impact of the omicron variant. This also attacks the lungs, although not as severely as Delta, he said tagesschau24-Interview.

It is now considered certain that the omicron variant causes a milder course of the disease than the delta variant. According to Christian Karagiannidis, head of the DIVI intensive care register, there is no reason to regard Omicron as harmless. Omikron attacks the upper respiratory tract more, so the course of Omikron is milder than that of Delta.

“But that doesn’t mean that the courses are mild,” said the doctor tagesschau24. Omicron still makes the lungs sick, but not as bad as with Delta. Nevertheless, there is an increase in the number of hospitalized patients with the omicron variant. Not only lung diseases but also thrombosis could be a consequence of your omicron infection.

Especially unvaccinated people in intensive care units

Karagiannidis again emphasized the importance of the corona vaccinations. Above all, the unvaccinated were in the intensive care units. It is worth looking at the numbers according to age and previous illnesses. “Two-thirds are unvaccinated, one-third vaccinated or recovered,” he said tagesschau24.

Young people in the hospital are first and foremost unvaccinated. “With the older ones, we sometimes see people who have been vaccinated twice who end up in the intensive care units.” Age and previous illnesses played a role. “It’s going to be dangerous, at least with the Delta variant. I hope that it will go down significantly with Omikron.”