A Bay Area health officer on why omicron may be the end

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

SFGATE talked to county Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis about the current surge, why omicron is so different from other variants and the future of pandemic policy. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.is that unvaccinated residents are more likely to wind up in the hospital than vaccinated residents, and the vaccinated residents who do end up hospitalized are"primarily older residents," and that"even for that group it's milder.

SFGATE: Is the your county's previous trend of"with COVID" and"for COVID" hospitalizations holding? Last time we talked, you said that at least eight of 19 patients listed as COVID-19 hospitalizations were incidental positives who in the hospital for other reasons.The ratio is about the same, if not tilting more towards the"with COVID" side.

It gives a sense of how much virus is present in the entire community, and Santa Clara just issued a statement saying they're seeing a plateau in their waste water samples also, which is reassuring because across the Bay Area, the epidemiology has mostly been shared. As a region, we've traveled together through most stages of the pandemic; we've moved together on the timing and scale of waves we've experienced.

SFGATE: What's the future of pandemic restrictions in Marin County? You haven't closed businesses or banned gatherings, but are the Bay Area counties

I got covid and honestly there were a couple days where i was so grateful i had my booster, specifically when my throat kinda closed up for a bit while sleeping thought i was going to the hospital that night luckily, i didnt. i couldn’t imagine how bad it wouldve been without it

Hospitalizations, however, remain at a manageable level, and infected individuals who do require hospitalization are generally seeing shorter stays and not requiring intubation.

“Greater societal harm” as in poor peasants won’t get back to work and keep rich peoples pockets full if we do things to fight the virus like in Holland?…Smh

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