For the last while community cases have been at 140-170 a day, a slight increase from before, and there were two deaths, the only two in the last month or so. Surprisingly hospitalizations are down, 79 are in the hospital now and 10 are in ICU (it was 90/17 a few weeks ago).
Qatar has not reported any cases of the Omicron variant but I wonder if it is here and responsible for the decreased hospitalizations. Preliminary data from other countries seems to indicate that, while more contagious than Delta, in vaccinated people it produces generally milder symptoms than Delta. In Qatar almost all people aged 12+ are vaccinated so there aren't many unvaccinated adults for Omicron to hospitalize.
There have been close calls. A friend's mother tested positive and he had visited her the day before he met with myself and some friends. One day isn't enough for him to be contagious and he's quarantining now, taking Covid tests every two days (all negative so far). His main worry was his infant son, who Grandma took care of that day. Sure enough, nine days later the baby tested positive. I was told grandma and baby are fine. Despite the unlikelihood of being able to spread Covid to people he met one day after being exposed many of my friends have been tested. All negative. I was tested as well seven days after the exposure (PCR, not the rapid test that I did to go see the Qatar/UAE game) and was negative.
The Arab Cup is still on, if Omicron was starting to spread in Qatar I would not expect any restrictions/lockdowns until after the tournament on December 18th. If hospitalizations are decreasing then maybe restrictions won't be necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment