Omicron is dominating the news cycle. The latest strain seems to be highly contagious but not nearly as lethal as the Delta wave. This isn't March 2020. That's what the experts are saying. There are no new lockdowns ahead…nationally. Locally, well—that's a different story.
Yet, there's a wrinkle in the story about the Texas man in his 50s who supposedly succumbed to the new variant. We don't know if he died from the virus (NY Post):
An unvaccinated man in the Houston area is believed to be the first person in the US to die from COVID-19’s Omicron variant, health officials said.
The man, who was in his 50s, had survived a previous case of COVID-19 but had underlying health conditions, the Harris County Health Department said Monday.
“The individual was at higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19 due to his unvaccinated status and underlying health conditions,” health officials said.Harris County Public Health Director Barbie Robinson said the man’s death was “a reminder of the severity of COVID-19 and its variants.”
There's no confirmation. We're back to this silly game again. People who have died with COVID or died from COVID. They're two totally different animals. And the reporting has been shoddy all-around. I know bashing Florida is a liberal media thing, but here's a case that perfectly explains how the numbers are cooked here. In July 2020, a man in the state died from a motorcycle crash but was infected with the virus when he died. He was added to the state's COVID death count. COVID didn't kill him—it was him crashing his bike. Our friend at PJ Media, Mr. Stephen Green, has more on this story here.
Virtually no one has died from this new variant, which is a good thing. We're at a point where everyone is going to get it, which means millions will acquire natural immunity on top of the tens of millions who are vaccinated. I'd take more contagious over more lethal any day of the week.