agreed that some kind of BA.2 outbreak is likely in the US, their opinion on the consequences are more mixed.
When asked if Europe’s growing outbreak would be followed by a surge of hospitalizations and deaths, Hamer says, “I would be willing to bet no.” Even if BA.2 is able to spread among people who already had another strain of Omicron, they should have built up enough antibodies to avoid severe symptoms. People who are both vaccinated and previously caught Omicron should be even safer.
But Europe has a much more heavily vaccinated population than the US. Roughly two-thirds of adults in the EU have. More critically, 90 percent of everyone over the age of 50 in the UK has had a booster, and the picture is similar across western Europe. Many of the people most vulnerable in an outbreak are also highly protected. In the US, only 66 percent of thoseHassig calls the idea that cases and hospitalizations have “decoupled” during recent waves deceptive.
It’s hard to know whether that means the US will see a wave of hospitalizations like it did when Omicron peaked. Europe is only a week or two into its new wave, which means it’s still too early to use data from there to draw predictions for the states. What’s clear is this: The
' I just hope that our leaders and we as a society are willing to put them back on if the cases do indeed start rising' Ron Howard voice: cough cough beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
An interesting, comparative US perspective on the current Covid infection increase in Europe, including the UK, with Scotland having the highest rate in the UK.