now seeing it throughout all the countries. for the next three to eight weeks, i think we are going to be in a very, very difficult place. a national viral blizzard, you say. we got the news from the cdc a short time ago. 73% of new cases are omicron. what are the implications of that? well, you know, john, we got data today out of south africa that says that if you look at the number of patients presenting with omicron, versus delta, there is actually about a fourfold decrease likelihood of needing hospitalization or being on a ventilator which is good news. the problem is with omicron, the transmission levels are much higher than four times what we saw with delta. so actually, the net gain and potential hospitalized cases, even though more people who get it have milder illness, so many more people, overall, will get it that i think we are going to see a real challenge in our healthcare systems over the course of the next three to eight weeks. and what really is challenging
they thought. how might that affect the treatment? right. this is an interesting thing that happened today that came out of the cdc. the cdc estimates what percentage of cases out there are omicron, versus delta. they have been doing this with variants since the beginning of the pandemic. so let s take a look at what they said last week. so last week, they said if you look at the week of december 11th through the 18, they previously said that that was 73% that omicron was 73% of the new cases for the week of december 11th through 18th. but today, cdc said, actually, we re going to amend that. we don t think that was right. we think it s 23%. omicron was only 23% that week, and now it s about 59%. let me first of all, it s unclear why. that s a big difference. why why did they get that so wrong? but let s talk about why it matters. so, we were just talking about
wellmed. they are in crisis mode right now due to covid. what is the likelihood that we are going to see things like that across the country? well, we are seeing it in certain parts of the country right now due to delta and that likely will change in the next two to three weeks as i think omicron takes over delta. then, instead of seeing regional surges we are seeing with delta, much of the west right now is very low level with delta. parts of the south. i think omicron is going to be a national viral blizzard. and that we can expect to see substantial activity throughout all the states, just as we are now seeing it throughout all the countries. for the next three to eight weeks, i think we are going to be in a very, very difficult place. a national viral blizzard, you say. we got the news from the cdc a short time ago. 73% of new cases are omicron. what are the implications of that? well, you know, john, we got data today out of south africa that says that if you look at the num
we are still in the middle of the viral storm. so the idea they may be less likely to get sick, that may be true. we saw that in south africa as well, especially among younger and healthier people. what about older people, the graph you see on the screen, this is mostly unvaccinated people, still taking up hospital beds with covid. as we are watching the numbers, i wonder what you are looking for in the next few weeks, what you want to know about omicron and what s concerning you. you know, i think one of the biggest things still is that this does appear very contagious. i don t know if we have the graph that shows what the beginning of delta or omicron looked like. basically, these are the important questions. we know the acceleration has been more rapid with this versus delta. will it now outcompete delta, will they sort of coiexistcoexi two viruses.