The Omikoron virus is rampant. On April 7 alone, 824 new local confirmed cases and 20,398 local asymptomatic infections were reported in Shanghai. In this round of epidemic since March, Shanghai has reported more than 130,000 infected people, and the situation is extremely severe.
World Health Organization experts say Omicron is the latest variant to watch. Compared to the delta variant, the disease caused by Omicron is less severe, but it is still a dangerous virus, and infected individuals may experience various symptoms of the disease, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe disease and even death. People with underlying diseases, advanced age, and unvaccinated patients may have more severe symptoms after infection, and people will still be hospitalized and even die from infection with this variant.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also publicly stated recently that there is a study on the incidence of deaths in relevant countries in the two time periods from August to October 2021 and from November to January 2022. A comparative analysis of rates and mortality rates was conducted and found that the case fatality rate did decline during the Omicron strain, but the total number of deaths was higher than that of the delta strain during the same period. It can be said that the harm of the Omicron strain is still serious, and it is not the “flu-like” imagined by some people.
At present, the Omicron variant is a serious threat to special populations such as elderly patients and patients with severe underlying diseases. Severe and critically ill patients were among the Omicron-infected patients admitted to Jilin Province, requiring invasive ventilators to support breathing. Among the confirmed cases in Shanghai, some are asymptomatic infections, and some have changed from mild and common to severe. According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, there is currently 1 severe case and is being treated.
“Old my old and old people”. Shanghai is an aging city. By the end of 2020, Shanghai had 5,334,900 registered elderly people over the age of 60, accounting for 36.1% of the total registered population. The elderly are a susceptible group. If Omicron is regarded as a “big flu” and completely “flattened”, how many elderly people will suffer?
China has a large population base, a huge absolute number of elderly people, and an equally huge absolute number of patients with underlying diseases. Once these two groups are infected on a large scale, it will not only bring harm to the health care system and other basic services. The risk of “running” will also pose a huge threat to the lives of these two groups.
At present, the whole society must recognize the potential harm of Omicron, and make great determination and make great efforts to control the epidemic as soon as possible, so that Omicron will not cause a sustainable society spread and widespread popularity. This is exactly what China should do in the fight against the epidemic by adhering to the concept of “people first, life first”.