COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Are there people out there who are vaccinated but still actively trying to avoid getting Omicron?
If this is you…why???  What exactly are you afraid of?

Some people (like me) are immunocompromised and are just acting out of caution. I'm not afraid of anything, but thanks for the concern.

It's called vitamins and if you get the flu medications aspirin for fever and Theraflu for cough, sneezing and sore throat

[roxas11]

This has to be the most self-centred population in recent history. It's a good thing most of you weren't alive during WWII or we would almost certainly have lost. It's no wonder this country is fracturing as it is. There is no common cause or common sacrifice anymore. It's all about "me", "me", and "me'. Being forced to wear a mask in a grocery store? That's apparently the new oppression. That is despite the fact that one lives in the United States, where one is not oppressed.

But hey, let's all try to get this virus transmitted across the population as quickly as possible. That's what most of you want. Obviously, mitigation efforts are too oppressive for some people. I honestly say "f-ck you" to those that think a mask somehow inhibits a trip the grocery store. I have no respect for those that think only of themselves.

I can't speak for everyone else on this, but that is not how I feel at all

I would honestly prefer if people would just get vaccinated over contracting this virus. Omicron may be mild compared to previous variants, but I still would not tell anybody to go out and purposely get it just because it may give them some immunity. I just think the reality is there are many people in the country who will never get vaccinated or even wear as mask and nothing you or I say is ever going to change that

I hate to say it, but at this point omicron may be the best change at getting unvaccinated people some protection against future variants. It's sad that it has even come to this, but that is the crazy world that we now live in

As I said at the start I wish people would just get vaccinated or at least wear as mask but at this point if Omicron spreading to the unvaccinated is what it takes to get us out of this mess than so be it


 

[emailking]

Are there people out there who are vaccinated but still actively trying to avoid getting Omicron?
If this is you…why???  What exactly are you afraid of?

Yes. I don't want to get sick. Not even a cold. I'm not afraid. I just don't want it.

I don't think it's inevitable that everybody gets it either. I also don't think it's a cause for celebration.

At least until this super wave is over I'm going to try to avoid getting it.

[MATTROSE94]

Previous rules of virus are 'out the window'

The latest surge, which has sent case numbers exploding across the globe, is fueled by the Omicron variant, the most contagious coronavirus strain yet, health experts say.

The virus is now "extraordinarily contagious" and previous mitigation measures that used to help now may not be as helpful, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner told CNN on Friday.

"At the beginning of this pandemic... we all were taught, you have a significant exposure if you're within six feet of somebody and you're in contact with them for more than 15 minutes. All these rules are out the window," Reiner said. "This is a hyper-contagious virus."

Now, even a quick, transient encounter can lead to an infection, Reiner added, including if someone's mask is loose, or a person quickly pulls their mask down, or an individual enters an elevator in which someone else has just coughed.

"This is how you can contract this virus," Reiner said.

I'm sure all the anti-restriction people on this forum want this information suppressed, like Trump would. If this were widely known, a substantial portion of the population would lock themselves down, and then large parts of the hospitality industry would likely close due to suddenly being unprofitable, all of this with zero intervention by the government. This would be totally unacceptable to these people who demand their hospitality options open at all times come hell or high water.

I don't understand this post: the kind of people who would 'lock themselves down' are the kind of people who already know everything there is to know about the new variant anyway and would act accordingly.

Omicron Covid is one of the most infectious diseases known to humanity, rendering anything other than the most authoritarian, dystopian NPIs ineffectual. If anything, this means we need fewer restrictions, not more, since they will have nothing but the most vanishingly marginal impact on actual transmissibility and will only make people's lives more miserable with no meaningful change to the trajectory of the pandemic.

Unless you want people to be welded into their homes like in Wuhan there is no plausible level of social/economic restriction that will do anything to prevent everyone contracting Covid now. This is grounds for celebration, because it's extraordinarly mild compared to prior variants.

This will be over soon: the pandemic is transitioning from a medical phenomenon to a social/political one. If original Covid had been as mild as omicron and as transmissible we would never have heard of the phrase 'lockdown' because there would never have been any case for such a measure. The only reason we're even talking about public health restrictions now is because it's been normalised over the last two years.

I think you missed my point. I've long given up on government NPI's in the USA, aside from mask mandates, because they will not be put in place even if Omicron had the lethality of Ebola and corpses were piling up in the streets. I'm speaking of actions by cautious individuals in response to this news. I believe there is a substantial proportion of the population, who thought they were being mostly safe but if they were informed just how contagious Omicron is, would cancel that vacation, stop dining out, cancel that gathering they were going to hold, etc. This could then move the market and make hospitality unprofitable, forcing firms there to shut down, all of this with zero intervention by the government.

One could call this a "grassroots lockdown", and based on the posts on this forum, it would trigger people just as much as a government lockdown, which honestly undermines their "freedom" arguments since it would force hospitality firms to operate for their pleasure despite adverse market conditions.

Time will tell whether we see any effect like this, but I have seen several articles in December saying that restaurants in NYC were experiencing mass cancellations of reservations. My firm asked that we WFH for the first two weeks of January unless necessary and several of our competitors have done the same.

Why? That's just postponing the inevitable by a week or two. Every single person in the world is going to get omicron.

Your triple masking does nothing, omicron will come for you all the same.

You're entitled to your opinion. I believe there are many who believe otherwise, particularly if this doctor is right and his statement becomes widely known, enough to move the market. We'll see who is right.

However, if I'm right and the hospitality industry starts to contract simply due to market conditions, then if you're bashing "lockdowns", like many have already done on this forum, you've totally undermined your "pro-freedom" arguments and have shown that you're authoritarian in the other direction. You're demanding that the hospitality sector stay open for your pleasure, regardless of what Omicron does and what market conditions dictate.

People can believe whatever they'd like about the transmissibility of the omicron variant. The facts are, it will get all of us at some point in at most the next 60 days, probably less, if it hasn't already. Nothing I stated was an opinion.

And I'm not demanding anyone stay open. If a business wants to lose money and shut down, they have that right. Virtually none will.

No, it's your opinion. It's still possible to avoid being infected by avoiding all human contact and sanitizing everything. I don't believe Omicron has evolved to be Lysol resistant. Also getting a booster does help a bit to prevent infection. If one can't tolerate avoiding human contact, then one incurs risk of catching it. How much human contact you need and how much risk you want to incur, that's up to personal opinion.

If you're willing to stick to what you said about voluntary business shutdowns, then I will respect your opinion. But there are multiple active threads where people are whining about "lockdowns" which are really voluntary business shutdowns and that really is not a respectable opinion since their "pro-freedom" arguments turn into hypocrisy.

Do you do this?

No, not religiously, but I adjust my activities based on the perceived risk. Omicron might be ultra contagious but it's still true that if I expose myself less, then I have a lower chance to be infected. Right now the risk of being infected is very high so I restrict my social activities and mobility. That's my opinion on what I should do. Fine, you perceive the risk differently, so you have a different opinion and go about your life as if it were 2019. However there are clearly many people who think along the same lines as me since restaurants in NYC were reporting mass cancellations of reservations in December.

I really don’t mean to criticize you or your opinion, but when would you feel comfortable abandoning COVID NPIs such as masking and staying at home unless for essential activities?

I think the most realistic scenario to hope for is when science conclusively establishes that the severity of omicron is similar to the common cold for vaccinated people. Right now it looks like it could be true, or it might be somewhere between common cold and flu, we're not sure. What scares me most about breakthrough infections is not that I'll get hospitalized, but that I'll suffer a "mild case" where I am bedridden with fever, body aches, and chills and then suffer long term effects like loss of smell and taste, decreased lung function, brain fog, etc. This was common with breakthrough Delta infections, but if we can be sure breakthrough omicron is like the common cold and this kind of disease severity is rare, then it should cause far less concern.

This is a pretty fair opinion. Omicron doesn’t seem to be ad bad as Alpha or Delta, but is still killing around 1,200 people per day, which is a lot better than the 5,000 per day Alpha killed in the US and the 10,000 per day Delta killed in India last spring. BTW, I see that you mentioned that you worked for a firm, is it a law firm or a different type of firm?

[Meclazine for Israel]

..... physical fitness.....we know is the single best defense against this virus.

You are correct....in general.

Vaccination is the best primary defence against this virus.

Second would be natural immunity where the lungs don't suffer from an over-responsive immune system and you drown in your own alveoli.

An overweight 45 y.o. German woman can have a great immune system whilst a superfit 24 y.o Australian athlete can have a skewed immune system and get much sicker.

Being in good shape helps build your natural immunity, but fitness is not the primary defence.

It's all to do with your immune response.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Let me be clear, it will be over, but it isn’t yet.

There was an epidemiologist in Adelaide, SA who forecast (6-12 months ago) through modelling that with regard to the pre-Omicron variants; it is highly probable that everyone on the planet will get COVID-19 three times in the next ten years.

Vaccination is therefore the only solution.

With Omicron, and more variants to come, this could turn into an annual flu-like situation with an immunisation booster.

The medical advice from nurses in 1918 is the real solution if you want to avoid COVID-19:

1. Wash your hands for 20 seconds in warm soapy water;
2. Wear a mask.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

[Frodo]

Omicron Variant Might Help Defend Against Delta, Lab Study Suggests
In the lab, antibodies produced during an Omicron infection protected against Delta. If Omicron dominates in the real world, that could lead to a less dire future.

People who have recovered from an infection with the new Omicron coronavirus variant may be able to fend off later infections from the Delta variant, according to a new laboratory study carried out by South African scientists.

If further experiments confirm these findings, they could suggest a less dire future for the pandemic. In the short term, Omicron is expected to create a surge of cases that will put a massive strain on economies and health care systems around the world. But in the longer term, the new research suggests that an Omicron-dominated world might experience fewer hospitalizations and deaths than one in which Delta continues to rage.

“Omicron is likely to push Delta out,” said Alex Sigal, a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, who led the new study. “Maybe pushing Delta out is actually a good thing, and we’re looking at something we can live with more easily and that will disrupt us less than the previous variants.”

He posted the new study on the institute’s website on Monday. It has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

Independent scientists said that the results of the South African experiment, though preliminary, were sound. Carl Pearson, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the findings were consistent with what is now happening in England.

[emailking]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Ok? You've said this several times now I feel like.

I can fathom your position, I don't know why you can't fathom mine. In the long run I'm going to do that stuff, but for 2 months? I'll take staying at home over the high likelihood of a cold.

If you have a different cost benefit analysis, go for it. I support personal freedom.

[Suburbia]

I have two vaccines and I got boosted a couple days ago.

What next?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1476553395863711749

[Calthrina950]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

Are you saying that we should be canceling events and reimposing lockdowns? Perhaps reimposing a statewide mask mandate? I'm not sure if people are going to tolerate such moves at this point.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

The fully vaccinated are highly unlikely to need hospital space and staff, especially from Omicron.

The unvaccinated dealing with Delta was essentially Russian Roulette. The vaccinated dealing with Omicron is largely comparable to crossing the street. Sure, things could go horribly wrong, but it's very long odds.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

Are you saying that we should be canceling events and reimposing lockdowns? Perhaps reimposing a statewide mask mandate? I'm not sure if people are going to tolerate such moves at this point.

I think mask mandates would largely be met with grumbling, but probably wouldn't help much anyway given how transmissible Omicron is.

Lockdowns and closures, there is no way for that to happen without mass unrest that would make 2020 look like nothing, I think.

[Hammy]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

ICUs are almost 80% full, and 2/3 of those are non-covid patients, meaning even absent covid, nearly 60% of the country's ICU beds are in use. The pandemic is exposing a deeper problem, which is a shortage of hospital space caused by our for-profit system, and this is something that needs highlighted above all else at this point.

[Crumpets]

Newsweek: Omicron May Be the 'Harbinger of the End' of COVID's Epidemic Phase, Study Says

The decreased severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be a "harbinger" of an end to the global pandemic caused by virus. Initial data from South Africa indicates that the variant results in a quarter of deaths associated with earlier variants.

In the first study conducted to assess the risk of fatalities presented by Omicron researchers assessed the progress of COVID patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Tshwane District Hospital, the latter of which has been converted into a COVID specialist facility.

The hospitals are located in the City of Tshwane, the region of South Africa that was the first global epicenter of Omicron.

"There are clear signs that case and admission rates in South Africa may decline further over the next few weeks," the authors wrote.

"If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic ushering in its endemic phase."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an endemic as a sudden localized rise in a particular disease that is usually present in a community. This means that the disease's spread is predictable. This is in contrast to a pandemic, which the CDC defines as an: "Event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

[Frodo]

Newsweek: Omicron May Be the 'Harbinger of the End' of COVID's Epidemic Phase, Study Says

The decreased severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be a "harbinger" of an end to the global pandemic caused by virus. Initial data from South Africa indicates that the variant results in a quarter of deaths associated with earlier variants.

In the first study conducted to assess the risk of fatalities presented by Omicron researchers assessed the progress of COVID patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Tshwane District Hospital, the latter of which has been converted into a COVID specialist facility.

The hospitals are located in the City of Tshwane, the region of South Africa that was the first global epicenter of Omicron.

"There are clear signs that case and admission rates in South Africa may decline further over the next few weeks," the authors wrote.

"If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic ushering in its endemic phase."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an endemic as a sudden localized rise in a particular disease that is usually present in a community. This means that the disease's spread is predictable. This is in contrast to a pandemic, which the CDC defines as an: "Event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

Already preceded you, though I don't mind the article being posted a second time. 

[Inmate Trump]

Newsweek: Omicron May Be the 'Harbinger of the End' of COVID's Epidemic Phase, Study Says

The decreased severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be a "harbinger" of an end to the global pandemic caused by virus. Initial data from South Africa indicates that the variant results in a quarter of deaths associated with earlier variants.

In the first study conducted to assess the risk of fatalities presented by Omicron researchers assessed the progress of COVID patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Tshwane District Hospital, the latter of which has been converted into a COVID specialist facility.

The hospitals are located in the City of Tshwane, the region of South Africa that was the first global epicenter of Omicron.

"There are clear signs that case and admission rates in South Africa may decline further over the next few weeks," the authors wrote.

"If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic ushering in its endemic phase."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an endemic as a sudden localized rise in a particular disease that is usually present in a community. This means that the disease's spread is predictable. This is in contrast to a pandemic, which the CDC defines as an: "Event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

Haven’t we heard this before?  Another scary new variant always seems to come along that wipes away all previous assumptions.

[Hammy]

Newsweek: Omicron May Be the 'Harbinger of the End' of COVID's Epidemic Phase, Study Says

The decreased severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be a "harbinger" of an end to the global pandemic caused by virus. Initial data from South Africa indicates that the variant results in a quarter of deaths associated with earlier variants.

In the first study conducted to assess the risk of fatalities presented by Omicron researchers assessed the progress of COVID patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Tshwane District Hospital, the latter of which has been converted into a COVID specialist facility.

The hospitals are located in the City of Tshwane, the region of South Africa that was the first global epicenter of Omicron.

"There are clear signs that case and admission rates in South Africa may decline further over the next few weeks," the authors wrote.

"If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic ushering in its endemic phase."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an endemic as a sudden localized rise in a particular disease that is usually present in a community. This means that the disease's spread is predictable. This is in contrast to a pandemic, which the CDC defines as an: "Event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

Haven’t we heard this before?  Another scary new variant always seems to come along that wipes away all previous assumptions.

I've literally never heard of a variant being discussed as possibly the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Every single variant, without exception, prior to this been treated as evidence the pandemic will go on for eternity.

The fact is, especially for the vaccinated, omicron is functionally a cold. And there have been quite a few studies now that back up the assertion that the chances of the unvaccinated getting severe covid--while still high enough to warrant vaccination--is significantly less than prior variants, an indication that it's following prior pandemics where it becomes both more contagious and less severe over time.

[Donerail]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Ok? You've said this several times now I feel like.

I can fathom your position, I don't know why you can't fathom mine. In the long run I'm going to do that stuff, but for 2 months? I'll take staying at home over the high likelihood of a cold.

If you have a different cost benefit analysis, go for it. I support personal freedom.

What do you think will be different two months from now? If you were waiting to get vaccinated, that would make sense, but I don't believe that's the case. Why do you feel a need to delay your encounter with the virus by two months?

[Inmate Trump]

Newsweek: Omicron May Be the 'Harbinger of the End' of COVID's Epidemic Phase, Study Says

The decreased severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be a "harbinger" of an end to the global pandemic caused by virus. Initial data from South Africa indicates that the variant results in a quarter of deaths associated with earlier variants.

In the first study conducted to assess the risk of fatalities presented by Omicron researchers assessed the progress of COVID patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Tshwane District Hospital, the latter of which has been converted into a COVID specialist facility.

The hospitals are located in the City of Tshwane, the region of South Africa that was the first global epicenter of Omicron.

"There are clear signs that case and admission rates in South Africa may decline further over the next few weeks," the authors wrote.

"If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic ushering in its endemic phase."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an endemic as a sudden localized rise in a particular disease that is usually present in a community. This means that the disease's spread is predictable. This is in contrast to a pandemic, which the CDC defines as an: "Event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

Haven’t we heard this before?  Another scary new variant always seems to come along that wipes away all previous assumptions.

I've literally never heard of a variant being discussed as possibly the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Every single variant, without exception, prior to this been treated as evidence the pandemic will go on for eternity.

The fact is, especially for the vaccinated, omicron is functionally a cold. And there have been quite a few studies now that back up the assertion that the chances of the unvaccinated getting severe covid--while still high enough to warrant vaccination--is significantly less than prior variants, an indication that it's following prior pandemics where it becomes both more contagious and less severe over time.

I remember people here saying Delta would be the last major wave and that we'd have an easy winter.

I'm just saying that we need to take things with a grain of salt.  The pandemic has shown time and time again that it gives zero F's when it comes to just about anything.  It's not running on our time.

[compucomp]

And there have been quite a few studies now that back up the assertion that the chances of the unvaccinated getting severe covid--while still high enough to warrant vaccination--is significantly less than prior variants, an indication that it's following prior pandemics where it becomes both more contagious and less severe over time.

It may be less than prior variants but the sheer infectiousness of Omicron would have caused major problems in hospitals if there were no vaccine. NYC data shows that unvaccinated people are being hospitalized at a rate of 30 per 100K each day last week (2 for vaccinated). For NYC that is about 2640 total each day. The absolute peak in April 2020 was around 19000. So in about 2 weeks omicron likely would have exceeded that level, which had the city build multiple field hospitals, repurpose the Javits Center, and got Trump to deploy the Comfort hospital ship. This means the vaccine works, but it also means that if we experienced Omicron in 2020 the result would have been a disaster and not the common cold, and that if we meet a future variant that is just as contagious but has more vaccine resistance we're still in trouble.

[emailking]

What do you think will be different two months from now? If you were waiting to get vaccinated, that would make sense, but I don't believe that's the case. Why do you feel a need to delay your encounter with the virus by two months?

The wave will be over. I might not encounter the virus after that.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

New studies reinforce belief that Omicron is less likely to damage lungs (The Guardian)

Researchers from the University of Liverpool’s Molecular Virology Research Group published a pre-print on Boxing Day that shows Omicron leading to “less severe disease” in mice, according to Prof James Stewart. The paper showed that mice infected with Omicron lose less weight, have lower viral loads and experience less- severe pneumonia.

“It’s one piece of the jigsaw,” he said. “The animal model does suggest that the disease is less severe than Delta and the original Wuhan virus. It seems to get cleared faster and the animals recovered more rapidly, and that ties in with clinical data coming through.

“The early indications are that it’s good news, but that’s not a signal to drop our guard, because if you’re clinically vulnerable, the consequences are still not great – there are deaths from Omicron. Not everyone can rip their masks off and party.”

The Neyts Lab at Leuven University in Belgium found similar results in Syrian hamsters, with a lower viral load in the lungs compared with other variants. Prof Johan Neyts said this may be because the virus was better at infecting humans than hamsters, or that it was more likely to infect the upper respiratory tract, or that it provoked less-severe disease.