COVID-19: Omicron Update

On December 28, AdventHealth hosted a LinkedIn Live Q&A about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 with Doug Ross, MD, Chief Medical Officer at AdventHealth Tampa . Here were some of the main takeaways.

What are we seeing as a division when it comes to COVID-19?

We are seeing an increase and an uptick in COVID-19 cases. It is climbing and concerning that we are increasing again. As of December 28, there were 145 patients hospitalized with COVID across the West Florida Division.

What is different about the Omicron variant from previous variants?

It's very infectious. It's the second most infectious virus that we know of, measles being the first. We think it is a milder version compared to previous variants, but it still can be very dangerous.

When it comes to testing, where should people be going?

We are discouraging people from coming to the hospital for COVID-19 testing. Tests are in short supply and we are trying to reserve those for patients who are really sick. We are asking patients to go to county testing sites or urgent care locations rather than the emergency department. If you have mild symptoms, you can do rapid testing from pharmacies.

Will this surge look different from previous surges?

Patients who are being admitted are primarily not vaccinated or boosted. Getting your vaccine is clearly a very important part of getting a milder case of COVID-19, whether it be Omicron or Delta. It has been shown in studies out of Great Britain that the cases of hospitalization and the severity of the illness depends on if you have been vaccinated or boosted.

The CDC just lessened quarantine time for those who are asymptomatic. What is the latest in that area?

We know that people become contagious with the disease a couple of days before symptoms and remain contagious 2-3 days after symptoms start. The CDC has said that if you are asymptomatic for five days or improving symptoms in the five days after an infection, you can return to work with proper masking. Social distancing, washing hands, and wearing masks are critical.

With self-testing kits, should we assume most of those positive infections are Omicron?

Even though the majority of cases are Omicron, Delta is still out there and much worse in terms of infection. It's really difficult to tell from the home-kits.

Anything to add?

It's most likely that everyone is going to get COVID at some point. We want to try and reduce the number of people getting COVID and needing hospitalization. You can reduce that likelihood by getting vaccinated and boosted. If you haven't been vaccinated and boosted, you should be really careful about getting exposure because you want to build that immunity by getting the vaccine. If you have been vaccinated, it should be a much milder case. We do not want to overwhelm the health systems with another surge.

We are exploring whether Omicron is a milder disease because people are vaccinated and boosted or is a milder disease just in general.

To view the LinkedIn Live in its entirety, see below. For up-to-date COVID information from AdventHealth, click here .