Speaking during a Wuhan coronavirus task force briefing Thursday evening, President Joe Biden claimed the latest variant of the disease is going to lead to overwhelmed hospitals, severe illness and death.
"It's here now, and it's spreading, and it's gonna increase. For unvaccinated, we're looking at a winter of severe illness and death for unvaccinated. For themselves, their families and the hospitals they will soon overwhelm," Biden said, pushing booster shots.
President Biden on #Omicron: "It's here now, and it's spreading, and it's gonna increase."
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 16, 2021
Watch: https://t.co/0gB6Kmd8IK pic.twitter.com/1wXYQbpD83
But according to what doctors and scientists have seen so far, Omicron is more contagious than other variants but symptoms are mild. This is the case even for the unvaccinated, although a number of cases are occurring among the vaccinated.
"After four weeks, this is now our fourth week, there's no reason you can't trust us when we say it's mild disease," South African Doctor Angelique Coetzee, who announced the new variant to the world, said in a recent interview. "There's no need to hospitalize any of these mild cases. There's really no need. In these patients, recover within about five days. Whether you are a child or 80-years of age. Whether you've been vaccinated, whether you've not been vaccinated. Whether you've suffered mild diseases, other comorbitities, this is what we see. This is the real experience."
????Please listen
— Adam Brooks (@EssexPR) December 12, 2021
Dr Angelique Coetzee of the South African Medical Association says TODAY
- @TomSwarbrick1 @LBC
RT ! pic.twitter.com/NutUMWNlpe
'The majority of your people are going to get Omicron... Do they need to panic? No, please don't.'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) December 16, 2021
Dr Angelique Coetzee, Head of South Africa's Medical Association, believes the Omicron Covid variant 'can help us' out of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/m1RU48JDuL
Bloomberg: South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave - “Only 1.7% of identified Covid-19 cases were admitted to hospital in the second week of infections in the fourth wave, compared with 19% in the same week of the third delta-driven wave” https://t.co/b3hMfwqQBt
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) December 17, 2021
During the daily briefing at the White House shortly before Biden's remarks, Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked why Biden continues to say the vaccinated can't spread the disease. According to the CDC and a number of studies, the vaccinated spread the virus at similar rates.
A new study from the University of California, Davis, Genome Center, UC San Francisco and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub shows no significant difference in viral load between vaccinated and unvaccinated people who tested positive for the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. It also found no significant difference between infected people with or without symptoms.
DOOCY: "Why is President Biden telling people, still, that the vaccinated cannot spread Covid?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 16, 2021
Jean-Pierre: "What I know and what the president believes is that we have to listen to the science, we have to listen to our public health officials..." pic.twitter.com/RxV3IEgGqN
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