Survive the Omicron Surge; breaking the Mayo Clinic COVID-19 community forum
LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WKBT) – Doctors at the Mayo Clinic Health System say keeping up with the COVID-19 pandemic is not easy, one of the reasons they have today addressed the public with a community forum.
The COVID-19 pandemic, where do we go from here, is the theme of the forum.
Experts at Mayo Clinic Health not only broke down the current state of the pandemic, but also looked to the future.
The Omicron variant has shown no signs of slowing down here in the United States.
“We have widespread exponential transmission nationwide,” said Paul Mueller, vice president of MCHS Southwest Wisconsin.
The highly infectious variant is less severe than the others, but experts say it’s more transmissible as well.
People who do not follow CDC guidelines face serious risks.
“Unvaccinated people clearly have a higher risk of testing positive, being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19,” Mueller said.
The Omicron variant has pushed the number of cases in the United States to new heights.
Still, new research gives hope to health experts at the Mayo Clinic.
“In South Africa, the Omicron outbreak peaked in 4 weeks and came down quickly, and in the UK compared to the week before., Last week the number of cases started to drop, it was 13% lower than the previous week, “said Dr Raj Palraj, Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist.
With so many people infected so quickly, experts at the Mayo Clinic say the COVID-19 pandemic could become endemic.
“It is possible that even the unvaccinated if they get infected with Omicron, hopefully have a mild infection and recover, and if they have immunity, it will help this virus to become endemic and we will have collective immunity, ”Palraj said.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic are urging people to get vaccinated and receive boosters.
As for the 4th dose, it is too early to tell.
“What about the 4th dose?” The answer is, we don’t really know yet, ”said Dr Abinash Virk, Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist.
During the forum, experts from the Mayo Clinic made it clear that this virus is very unpredictable and that just because their research says one thing now, things might be different later.
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