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When Will it End? Hopefully: by the End of January, Drs. Chokshi and Fauci say

When Will it End? Hopefully: by the End of January, Drs. Chokshi and Fauci say

By Yehudit Garmaise

 This morning when Eric Adams was asked the question on the mind of every New Yorker: “Do you have any estimate for when the Omicron wave might begin to subside?” the mayor-elect quipped, “The doctor will answer your question, but I am sure if he were able to tell you when, he would be a multi-billionaire.”

Yesterday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was preparing for “a January surge,” and Anthony Fauci, MD, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor said, “[the latest surge will wane] likely in a couple of weeks: probably by the end of January.

“Although it is tough to say,” Dr. Fauci added.

Dave Chokshi, MD, the Mayor Bill de Blasio’s health commissioner, who will be staying on until March 15, agreed, with a laugh, that “it is challenging to predict the path of this virus over the past two years.”

After describing that New York City health officials are “closely following the trajectories [of the virus] from around the world: particularly in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Norway,” Dr. Chokshi said, “We should plan and prepare for a challenging few weeks: certainly through January.

The winter surge, however, “is not something that we are going to take passively,” said Dr. Chokshi, who emphasized that the city’s continued efforts to provide vaccines, booster doses, and testing will help to slow the spread Omicron.

“Hospitalizations are on the rise, but the variant is milder for vaccinated people,” Mayor-elect Adams said. “Vaccinations and boosters are the best weapons in our arsenal to deal with COVID. That is the most important message we are going to continue to hammer home.

When BoroPark24 asked Dr. Chokshi whether the reportedly more mild cases of COVID that the Omicron variant seems to be creating could indicate the possible end of the pandemic, the health commissioner said “There is some validity to this hypothesis, that we don’t have enough evidence to be able to determine that that is the path that we are following with Omicron.”

 Some infectious disease specialists have speculated, that the weakening of the COVID strain could indicate that the pandemic is turning endemic, or into a manageable, less deadly disease, like the flu did after the Spanish Flu Pandemic mysteriously stopped infecting people in 1918 after a high level of immunity was achieved.

 However, Dr. Chokshi clarified, “when we say that the emerging evidence is that Omicron is less severe: that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is mild for everyone.” Dr. Chokshi said that those most at risk for severe disease from the Omicron variant are the unvaccinated, those underlying health conditions, and the elderly.”

Dr. Chokshi then explained that the virus has two elements that we must understand at the same time. First, the virus has an “intrinsic severity,” which has more to do with the characteristics of the virus itself and which we cannot change at all.

Secondly, however, the virus a “realized severity,” which has to do with the level of immunity in the population, which we can greatly effect through vaccination and booster shots.

“[Vaccination and booster shots] will help us to mitigate and minimize as much as possible the effects of Omicron and particularly the most devastating effects on our neighbors and family members,” Dr. Chokshi said.

NYC Mayors office Flickr


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