With Omicron shattering COVID-19 case records, many people—myself included—have accepted that an eventual infection is not just possible, but probable. But on social media, some are pushing a more dramatic take. If Omicron causes mostly mild disease, they argue, might it be worth purposely getting sick in exchange for extra immunity?
People who recover from COVID-19 do gain natural immunity, though how much and how long it lasts varies. Studies have also shown that people who get both vaccinated and infected may have extra-robust immune responses. But when I asked experts if these benefits were enticing enough to try to get sick, the answer was a resounding “no.”
“The risk-to-benefit calculation here is very clear to me,” immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki told me. “The risk is so much higher than whatever benefit you might reap.” And especially for an unvaccinated person, family medicine physician Dr. Laolu Fayanju said, trying to get sick is like playing “Russian roulette with an automatic handgun.”
There’s just no way to predict the outcome of a COVID-19 case, even with relatively mild Omicron as the dominant variant. Getting vaccinated and boosted drastically reduces your chances of being hospitalized, dying or developing Long COVID, but there are occasional, unfortunate exceptions. (For unvaccinated people, those outcomes are more common.) Whether you have your shots or not, there’s no reason to take the risk voluntarily.
Plus, if you were to get sick, you could accidentally expose someone who is unvaccinated (a group that includes all kids under 5), immunocompromised or otherwise vulnerable. And with our health care systems already hanging by a thread, the last thing doctors need is people intentionally exposing themselves to the virus.
“A safer, better way to [build immunity] is to get vaccinated,” Fayanju said. “Vaccines do the exact same thing without having to expose you to the ill effects of an actual disease.”
More than 300 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 5.5 million people have died. On Jan. 6, there were more than 2.5 million new cases and 7,214 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 58.4 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. Almost 834,000 people have died. On Jan. 6, there were 786,824 new cases and 1,870 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Jan. 7, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Supreme Court is today hearing oral arguments in two sets of cases that challenge the federal government’s vaccine mandates. The policies in question apply to health care workers at facilities that accept government funding, and workplaces with 100 or more employees. While the particulars of the arguments are different—my colleague Abigail Abrams helpfully breaks it down here—they both question whether the executive branch can implement such mandates without explicit Congressional approval. The court’s decisions could have major implications not just for COVID-19 response, but for future emergency situations.
Students and staff in K-12 schools should isolate for at least five days if they test positive and quarantine for at least five days if they are not fully vaccinated and are exposed to someone with COVID-19, under updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Those guidelines—shortened from 10 and 14 days, respectively—bring school policies in line with the CDC’s rules for the general public. They also come at a time when, as CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing today, pediatric hospitalizations are at their highest point during the pandemic. “Please, for our youngest children, those who are not yet eligible for vaccination, it’s critically important that we surround them with people who are vaccinated,” Walensky said, urging parents to inoculate older kids.
The Omicron variant seems to have taken hold in India, which today reported 117,000 new COVID-19 cases. Based on the experiences of other countries, Reuters reports that officials are assuming daily infection rates will surpass those seen during the country’s massive Delta surge last spring, when a then-record 414,000 cases were reported in one day.
Residents of the Chinese city of Xi’an, which has been on lockdown since late last month, are speaking out about consequences of the COVID-19 containment measure. While most of the world is trying to figure out how to coexist with the virus, China is still pursuing a “zero COVID” strategy. As such, officials have ordered the citizens of Xi’an to stay home unless they need to venture out to get tested for COVID-19—but some residents have alleged that they and others in the city have been denied medical care or food as a result of the strict lockdown. “No one cares what you die of—other than COVID-19,” one social media user wrote this week, according to CNN.
Doctors now have access to a range of effective COVID-19 treatments—at least in theory. In practice, drug supplies are running short.STAT reports that pharmacies are already running out of Pfizer’s newly approved antiviral treatment Paxlovid, and some hospitals must ration the therapies they use for severely ill patients, according to the New York Times. Those shortages illustrate the dangers associated with mild-but-contagious Omicron. When hundreds of thousands of Americans get sick each day, the system can barely keep up.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Angela Haupt.
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