Omicron Has 80% Lower Risk of Hospitalization, New Study Shows

I can only imagine how you and other RW Fauci haters would attack him if they prematurely declared omicron to me mild and it would later turn out not to be. The reality: It is too early to declare victory over omicron.

 

[QUOTE="nopartisanbull, post: 1073149404, member: .Swiss cheese to me.[/QUOTE]

A more useful swiss cheese would be to concern ourselves about the outcome of infections rather than the number of them. The number of infections relates to the virulence of the particular strain. If a strain produces less severe symptoms the outcomes will be more favorable.

If we could choose a strain that was twice as virulent but didn't kill anybody we would be pleased indeed. Omicron may be like that. So far the indications are that having it overtake delta is probably more of a plus than a minus because of less severe disease. We shall see.

 

I've been a coronary heart disease patient since my first heart attack in 1988. I am very familiar with the causes. Number one is heredity. Number two is excess consumption of fatty foods. Number three is smoking because it constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. You could throw influenza in there somewhere I suppose but it wouldn't raise a blip on the radar of the cardiologists I have been seeing all that time. No cardiologist has ever even mentioned it to me. If flu were a big deal they would be pestering heart patients to get flu vaccines.

I have no idea how many people die of heart disease while infected with influenza. I don't have a reason to argue that point. I would bet more die while shoveling snow or running or doing anything that raises pulse. I had a small infarction while riding my bicycle, something my cardiologist likes that I do.

 

Quoted by fmw; A more useful swiss cheese would be to concern ourselves about the outcome of infections rather than the number of them. The number of infections relates to the virulence of the particular strain. If a strain produces less severe symptoms the outcomes will be more favorable.

If we could choose a strain that was twice as virulent but didn't kill anybody we would be pleased indeed. Omicron may be like that. So far the indications are that having it overtake delta is probably more of a plus than a minus because of less severe disease. We shall see.

________________

Here’s a general belief;

“Compared to Delta and other strains, if Omicron is half as likely to land you in hospital, but twice as many people are infected, then the two cancel out, and you’re back to square one”.

A rational belief, HOWEVER, what will be Omicron’s percentage of hospitalized patients on ventilators/in ICUs?

We shall see, indeed

 

One thing we can see already is that making a point with invented numbers is not effective.

 

The obvious response is that folks, like me, simply are informed enough to know the actual field results that show that the omicron version is pretty benign. We know this already. But, for folks in the CDC, the golden goose is out the gate already, and they are trying desperately to remain influential and draconian. Hence the "fear" mongering they are currently engaged in. Perhaps what we should really be turning our attention to are the number of big pharma ties Fauci has. And figure out what his conflicts of interests are.

 

If influenza induced cardiovascular events are not a blip on your cardiologist’s radar you need a new cardiologist. Your life may depend on it. I’m not joking or being hyperbolic.

 

My cardiologists have saved my life and allowed me to live a normal life for more than three additional decades despite the heart disease. I'll stay with their advice, thank you.

 

I’m glad they have kept you alive. But the fact remains influenza is a HUGE killer of people with diagnosed and undiagnosed heart disease.

The CDC is always very slow to accept science but even the CDC has begun to accept the risk of influenza induced cardiovascular events.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/heartdisease.htm

Perhaps you prefer information from the Mayo Clinic.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/flu-shots/art-20044238

Do you think a factor that causes a 6 fold increase in the risk of heart attack should be a blip on a cardiologists radar?

It’s likely your survival the last 30 years may have been good fortune, not necessarily a result of competent care. I know it’s hard to accept facts that conflict with things authorities you appeal to tell us, but sometimes we have to accept empirical evidence for our own good. There is no value in believing false information about health sciences.

 

I will share your comments with my cardiologist. Having had a total of 7 coronary bypasses in two surgeries and low blood pressure maintained by drugs I suspect neither he nor I should be worried about a flu infection. Even it the chance of a heart attack are six fold that is a pretty small number when you compared to the general population. If I could get past the idea of vaccinating for last year's strain of flu, I would probably get vaccinated I have vaccinated for covid. I think I am in good hands. Thanks for your concern.

 

What does Biden or Trump have to do with it? They are elected officials, not doctors, scientists or immunologists. No sane person would look to a politician for medical advice regardless of what letters he or she has behind their name.

 

Hear hear. Correct. The blame falls on the virus which, unfortunately, cannot understand the blame.

 

In defense of your cardiologist this information has not proliferated in the medical community much. I believe the reason is because it has been suppressed to prop up influenza vaccine efficacy statistics. We have had research showing 90,000 annual deaths from influenza induced cardiovascular events for over a decade. It’s over 100,000 per year now based on population growth and aging population. But the CDC can’t start reporting 160,000 annual flu deaths. It would eviscerate the reported influenza vaccine efficacy data and make flu vaccines look very ineffective.

If you are interested in the research going back about a decade on this there is a lot of information in this thread starting here:

http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?posts/1072137735/

If you have not been getting annual influenza vaccination you are in a unique position to benefit greatly from influenza vaccination. Since annual influenza vaccination decreases the efficacy of each subsequent influenza vaccination, people who began annual vaccination as children have little benefit from annual vaccination by the time they are old enough to be back in high risk demographics. You have a lot more to gain from vaccination now than if you had been getting annual flu shots. Again, if you are interested in taking charge of your own health instead of entrusting it fully to public health organizations that withhold vital information, the decreasing efficacy of annual influenza vaccination is hashed out in this thread. As with the influenza/heart attack issue, none of this is my opinion. It’s all based on peer reviewed studies and meta analysis of peer reviewed studies.

http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?posts/1073041010/

My bedside manner sucks but I’m here on PF in the Covid sections to help people have access to important information they won’t hear anywhere else that they can leverage to protect themselves and those they love from disease.


Best wishes and Merry Christmas.

 

Because the left is blaming Trump and the right is blaming Biden.

 

I would call them deaths from heart disease. That they occurred during a flu infection may or may not be a critical issue. They could have suffered an infarction even without the flu infection. Statistics are useful but can be misleading often enough. I'm always reminded of a statistic that made some sort of case by providing a statistic that most auto accidents occur within 25 miles of home. It failed to mention that most driving occurs within 25 miles of home.

I have had only one flu vaccine in my life. It was probably administered too late because I got flu symptoms shortly afterward.

Thanks, I hope you had a great Christmas as well.

 

Yet, there were no more lockdowns or more money to fund us.

 

It is worth ignoring. Neither one of them hold blame for a virus.

 

The next wave will be important to determine if it follows a natural trend and weakens, or if it follows a bio engineered trend and gets stronger.

In other Chinese news, one of their research plants blew up. Initial reports are “Plant blew up? Round eye pond scum American make up story. That was Christmas lights blinding the heavens!”

 

The mechanism by which influenza causes MI is now pretty well understood. Influenza infection drastically increases the chance of plaque rupture and subsequent blockage of blood vessels in the heart.
This is no longer a theory. It’s been studied for years, it’s just inconvenient to accept.

It will be harder to accept now because of Covid. There were a lot of news stories etc. about how Covid is so unique and concerning because it causes heart damage and diabetes etc. These things were played up in an attempt to make such sequelae and Covid itself appear novel—like it could do things other viruses couldn’t do. But people who know about virology just shook their heads because we knew most viruses do the same or very similar things. For example H1N1 influenza infection doubles the risk of type 1 diabetes in young people. But when we found Covid can increase risk of diabetes everyone was in shock and awe, even though this is perfectly normal behavior from a virus. We would be shocked if Covid didn’t do these things. Now that Covid has been built up as such a special virus capable of doing all kinds of novel damage, it’s going to be very difficult for certain demographics who played the emotional football game with Covid to admit influenza and other viral diseases behave much like Covid.


Yes, as you already know there are many causes of heart disease and heart attacks. But influenza infection is a major one. Because influenza infections are often asymptomatic and 40% of heart attacks are “silent” it’s likely influenza is causing many silent first heart attacks that are never diagnosed and wouldn’t be linked to influenza anyway because the infection was asymptomatic and not diagnosed either. We see the same thing with heart damage from asymptomatic Covid infection. Most of it is undiagnosed.

Then you are in the somewhat unique position to benefit more from influenza vaccination in the future (compared to someone who has had annual flu shots for years).

We did. Actually went out to see my in-laws Thursday and celebrated Christmas. Yesterday was just another day on the farm, but it was a good one!

 

Difference in SA is the very low vaccination rate and resulting high levels of natural immunity. This will be a good test for the vaccine in heavily vaccinated America. If Corona is more serious here the vaccine does more harm than good.

 

yep, next month we will be back to normal after the bump from the holidays, no one wants to go on record telling people not to worry before a huge spike

 

Ask folks who can't travel. Ask folks stranded on cruise ships. And guess you didn't read the BBB legislation. Democrats are all about exercising their power over you. We all know this now.

 

We also know that Trump and his supporters strongly believe in the Separation of States and Federal Powers, ESPECIALLY DURING A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

 

A fact cemented in the constitution.

 

Thanks. Fortunately for me I have 7 bypasses that direct coronary blood flow around the plaque.