A slew of new studies indicate that the new COVID-19 variant Omicron is milder than other strains and doesn’t attack lungs as viciously as other variants, according to a new report.
“In studies on mice and hamsters, Omicron produced less damaging infections, often limited largely to the upper airway: the nose, throat and windpipe,” The New York Times reported on Friday. “The variant did much less harm to the lungs, where previous variants would often cause scarring and serious breathing difficulty.”
“It’s fair to say that the idea of a disease that manifests itself primarily in the upper respiratory system is emerging,” Roland Eils, a biologist at the Berlin Institute of Health, who has studied how coronaviruses infect the airway, told the Times.
Experiments on animals can help clear up these ambiguities, because scientists can test Omicron on identical animals living in identical conditions. More than half a dozen experiments made public in recent days all pointed to the same conclusion: Omicron is milder than Delta and other earlier versions of the virus.
On Wednesday, a large consortium of Japanese and American scientists released a report on hamsters and mice that had been infected with either Omicron or one of several earlier variants. Those infected with Omicron had less lung damage, lost less weight and were less likely to die, the study found.
Although the animals infected with Omicron on average experienced much milder symptoms, the scientists were particularly struck by the results in Syrian hamsters, a species known to get severely ill with all previous versions of the virus. “This was surprising, since every other variant has robustly infected these hamsters,” said Dr. Michael Diamond, a virologist at Washington University and a co-author of the study.
The findings mirror comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who this week said based on new data about the latest SARS-CoV-2 variant, “all indications point to a lesser severity of Omicron versus Delta.”
During a White House COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, the top U.S. immunologist cited a study from the University of Edinburgh that suggests the risk of hospitalization from Omicron is two-thirds lower than Delta.
“As we get further and further in the experience with Omicron — and perhaps even variants that might come after that — it’s very, very clear: For example, with Omicron, if you have a larger number of infections — and as the data that I presented here indicate that there is — it looks like a significant lessening of severity compared to others — it becomes much more relevant as to what the seriousness of the impact on society is,” Fauci said.
“We’re never going to stop counting tests. But we’re looking forward, as I think everyone feels is appropriate, that, ultimately, when we’re going to have to, quote, ‘live’ with something that will not be eradicated and very likely would not be eliminated, but can actually be at such a lower level of control — namely a control that does not disrupt society, does not disrupt the economy — that it will be much more relevant as to what the level of seriousness of impact is, as opposed to infection, which might turn out to be milder,” the doctor added.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected].