Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: omicron symptoms, booster shots, COVID tests & more
Each week, we offer you a roundup of our noteworthy coronavirus coverage.
More than 51.5 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Thursday morning, Dec. 23, according to Johns Hopkins University. That includes more than 812,000 people who have died nationwide.
Globally, there have been more than 277 million confirmed cases of the highly infectious virus, with more than 5.3 million reported deaths.
More than 204.8 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Dec. 22, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker shows. More than 63 million people have received a booster dose.
Here’s what happened between Dec. 17 and Dec. 23.
What to know about COVID-19 pills authorized by FDA
Two at-home treatment pills for COVID-19 have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for patients who test positive for the coronavirus. An antiviral pill from Pfizer was authorized Dec. 22, and another from Merck was approved the following day.
Both pills have been given emergency use authorization by the FDA during the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The pills do not prevent COVID-19 infection, according to the FDA, which encourages all in the U.S. to get a COVID-19 vaccine or booster as the best way to reduce chances of infection, hospitalization and death.
Pfizer’s pill, although available at first in smaller quantities, has been touted as the more effective pill, and should be used when available over the Merck option, the FDA said.
Here’s what to know about when the pills will be available and who will get them.
Experts push for shorter isolation period as omicron spreads
The new omicron coronavirus variant’s rapid spread throughout the United States has some health experts rethinking how long people infected with COVID-19 should isolate at home.
Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — last updated Dec. 9, before omicron became the dominant variant in the U.S. — say people infected with COVID-19, even if asymptomatic, should isolate at home for 10 days while people exposed to the virus should quarantine for 14 days, unless they’re fully vaccinated.
But because omicron seems to evade vaccines and spread more easily, more people, including the fully vaccinated, will likely become infected with the coronavirus — leading some experts to believe the 10-day isolation period may no longer be sustainable.
Do COVID-19 treatments work against omicron?
Scientists are racing to understand how well COVID-19 treatments work when put up against the highly contagious omicron variant. Health officials say some may remain more effective than others, but early evidence isn’t promising.
The trajectory of infections is worrisome, experts say, because many of the millions of people who choose to not get vaccinated against COVID-19 may no longer have the treatments they once trusted to fall back on if dealt a severe infection.
As of Thursday, Dec. 23, CDC data shows the omicron variant makes up 73% of new infections in the U.S. The variant has been detected in most U.S. states and is “rapidly increasing the proportion of COVID-19 cases it is causing.”
Omicron changes expert advice on booster timing
Since COVID-19 booster shots became available, health experts have cautioned the public to wait at least six months, or longer, between doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
But with many people eager to maximize their protection as the highly infectious omicron variant rapidly spreads across the United States, expert opinions are shifting.
Currently, the CDC says adults who have received their two Pfizer or Moderna doses should get a booster six months after getting the second shot. People ages 16 and 17 can also get a Pfizer booster. For adults who got the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, the recommended wait is two months.
You can still get infected with omicron if you’ve had COVID-19
We’re all exhausted, and this new coronavirus variant is making matters worse. But experts warn we can’t let our guards down because omicron has made one point clear: you can still contract the mutant despite prior infection and vaccination.
Research shows both coronavirus infection and vaccination offer immunity that can protect people from getting sick again, no matter the variant involved. But by how much and for how long remains unclear — a scientific gap only time may fill. Regardless of how immunity is acquired, there’s no telling who will or won’t develop effective antibodies, and why they last longer for some than for others.
Emerging evidence shows omicron does a better job at infecting people with a history of COVID-19 and evading vaccine’s defenses compared to other variants.
Which masks best protect against omicron?
The new omicron coronavirus variant seems to spread more easily than past variants — and some experts have said it may be time to switch to a higher-quality face mask, if you haven’t already, to best protect yourself.
The CDC says in guidance updated Monday, Dec. 20, that face masks offer protection against all coronavirus variants. It recommends that everyone, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, wear a face covering when in a public indoor setting in areas with high or substantial transmission rates, which includes most of the country as of Thursday, Dec. 23.
Experts have said some types of face masks are better than others as omicron spreads.
How did omicron get its name and how do you pronounce it?
Figuring out how to pronounce “omicron” — and how the variant got that name in the first place — may not be among the most pressing concerns, but the questions still have some scratching their heads.
It’s named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet under a naming scheme created by the World Health Organization, USA Today reported. In the United States, omicron is typically pronounced “ä-mə-krän” or “ō-mə-krän” according to Merriam-Webster. In Britain, it’s more often pronounced “ō-mī-krän.”
Could teacher mask rules in schools affect COVID spread?
Rules requiring teachers to wear face masks in schools helped slow transmission of the coronavirus, a new study examining German schools finds.
“The strongest predictor of the extent of the outbreak in our study was found to be the teacher/caregiver mask obligation,” researchers said. “Furthermore, requiring children to wear masks may also reduce the number of secondary cases.”
Can you get sick faster from omicron?
Early data and experts suggest it’s likely.
“The window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for the Omicron variant than the Delta variant,” the U.K.’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, based on recent analysis from the U.K.’s Health Security Agency, in a statement to Parliament on Dec. 6.
Omicron complicates “fully vaccinated” definition
The omicron coronavirus variant is complicating what we initially considered optimal protection against COVID-19.
You’re considered fully vaccinated two weeks after your second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after your single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. When boosters became widely available, the definition remained unchanged.
Now, emerging evidence, mostly from laboratory studies, suggests your primary vaccination series may not be enough to protect you from omicron infection — but it’s still highly effective against severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Booster shots, however, lead to a massive increase in antibody levels when put up against the omicron variant, leading many to believe COVID-19 vaccines should be a three-dose deal.
Testing guidance for fully vaccinated people
The new omicron coronavirus variant seems to be more capable of evading protection afforded by the COVID-19 vaccines than past variants — resurfacing questions from fully vaccinated people on if and when they need to get tested for the virus, especially during the busy holiday season.
In general, guidance from the CDC — which was last updated in mid-October, before the omicron variant began its rapid spread in the United States — recommends that people who are fully vaccinated still get tested for COVID-19 if they were exposed to the virus or if they have symptoms.
At-home test effectiveness, shortages and distribution in the US
More than 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests are set to be distributed to people across the United States.
The U.S. will purchase the tests and provide them free to Americans who request them through a website, the White House said. The tests will be available in January by mail. President Joe Biden announced the plan in a speech Tuesday, Dec. 21. The administration will determine how many tests each household may request, CNN reported.
At-home COVID-19 tests appear to be effective at detecting the omicron variant, with some caveats, MedPageToday reported.
Shortages of rapid home tests for COVID-19 as the omicron variant sweeps across the United States have prompted several national chains to restrict sales of the kits.
Amazon, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens all have put limits on how many home testing kits each customer can purchase as of Wednesday, Dec. 22.
How well do vaccines and their boosters work against omicron?
Time after time, studies show coronavirus vaccines protect most people from severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and death, and that the protection has held up against the many variants that have emerged along the way.
But omicron is testing the vaccines like no coronavirus mutant has before. So, how are the vaccines holding up? Here’s what data shows.
Biden’s vaccine mandate is reinstated
A battle in the appellate courts stunted the federal government’s ability to implement President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandate for large employers — until now.
On Friday, Dec. 17, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals put the rule back in play, lifting an earlier stay by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and allowing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to reinstate compliance deadlines.
But there’s not a clear path forward, as several petitions looking to block the rule have already been filed at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here’s a look at how we got here and what comes next.
What are the symptoms of omicron?
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the omicron coronavirus variant, including whether it causes more severe COVID-19 or the degree to which it evades vaccines’ defenses in real-world settings.
But early data collected in London reveals the answer to a question we’re all asking: Does omicron cause different symptoms than delta and other variants? Not quite, according to the ZOE COVID Study — an app some U.K. residents use to self-report information about their coronavirus vaccination and infections.
A comparison of data from thousands of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in October when the delta variant was dominant in London compared to December when omicron took over reveals “no clear difference in early symptoms (3 days after test).”
COVID-19 optimism plummets
Optimism on the COVID-19 situation has plummeted in the United States over the past several weeks, a poll found.
The Gallup findings released Monday, Dec. 20, showed that the percentage of people in the country who think the situation is improving dropped 20 points compared with a poll conducted in late October. But personal worries about the coronavirus and social distancing behaviors remained relatively unchanged.
COVID infection in fully vaccinated gives ‘super immunity’: study
COVID-19 infection after vaccination has always been possible, and may be more likely now that early data suggests the omicron variant can evade vaccines’ defenses.
But a new small study suggests that if you contract a breakthrough case — infections that occur two or more weeks after complete vaccination — you may be gifted with “super immunity.”
Laboratory research on blood samples from 52 health care workers, half of whom were fully vaccinated and contracted COVID-19, found breakthrough infections generated more antibodies that were “as much as 1,000% more effective” than those produced two weeks after a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, according to an Oregon Health & Science University news release. Study participants were all OHSU employees.
Avoid J&J COVID vaccine if Pfizer or Moderna are available?
Federal health officials have now made it clear: they “prefer” people in the U.S. receive a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine over the Johnson & Johnson shot.
In a unanimous decision, a CDC advisory committee voted on Thursday, Dec. 16, to update its recommendations with its “clinical preference” after a review of the latest data showed the J&J vaccine prevents fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions and deaths than the other two shots.
Here’s what to know about the decision:
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 7:23 AM with the headline "Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: omicron symptoms, booster shots, COVID tests & more."
