1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,160 JUDY WOODRUFF: As the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly, top federal health 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,160 officials warn it could bring a massive wave of new infections to the U.S. as early as January. 3 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:12,480 John Yang has our report. 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,480 JOHN YANG: Judy, there are now confirmed cases of Omicron in at least 36 states. 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:23,200 The CDC estimates the new variant represents about 3 percent of positive U.S. cases. 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,760 Dr. Saad Omer is an epidemiologist and the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,880 Dr. Omer, thanks so much for being with us. 8 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:37,320 Given what we know about Omicron, or, maybe more important, what we don't know, how concerned 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,560 should people be about it, and how -- and should we expect Omicron to become the dominant strain? 10 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,440 DR. SAAD OMER, Director, Yale Institute for Global Health: So, here's what we know. 11 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:52,440 We know that it is a highly infectious strain. We know that it evades immunity, especially 12 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:02,600 by two doses of the vaccines we use, but we also know that it responds to three doses. 13 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,200 So people have better protection with three doses of vaccine. 14 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,200 What we don't know is how severe it will be. So there are two ways of looking at severity. You 15 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:21,000 look at severity at the individual level. It seems there are very early signals that there may be 16 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:27,560 sort of at least the same or less severity per infection. But at the population level, 17 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,480 if something is more infectious, it's three times more infectious 18 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,040 and half as severe, it will still produce more hospitalizations. 19 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:44,040 So I'm just giving you an example, so there - - that, from a public health perspective, 20 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,800 public health authorities should absolutely be on alert. 21 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,600 From individual perspectives, we have a lot of self-efficacy. We can -- we're not helpless in the 22 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,120 face of this new variant. We can get vaccinated and boosted. We can take other precautions 23 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:11,120 in the interest of public health and personal protection, like testing before gatherings, 24 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,088 including family gatherings, like wearing masks, like having good ventilation, et cetera. 25 00:02:16,088 --> 00:02:21,088 JOHN YANG: Given what you said, that it may be more contagious, but less severe, but that 26 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,440 will still result in a lot of hospitalizations, how worried are you about what apparently the 27 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,880 CDC talks about as the worst-case scenario, the triple whammy of Omicron, Delta and seasonal flu? 28 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,360 DR. SAAD OMER: We may see a mixed picture. 29 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,360 Influenza, this is a season where people are mixing. So, for the last couple of seasons, 30 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,840 what has happened is, especially last season, there was a lot of social distancing that 31 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,520 people had due to COVID. Therefore, you didn't get that big a wave of influence. 32 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:58,520 So, it is a possibility, but it's not a certainty. So there is some stochasticity. So, there is 33 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:04,920 an element of chance still there. We are still learning about this variant, but also, 34 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,480 again, as I said, we are not helpless bystanders in the face of this virus. 35 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,480 JOHN YANG: You have talked and written a lot about misinformation, about the role of misinformation 36 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:21,320 in what's going on. What's your prescription to fight that? 37 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,840 DR. SAAD OMER: Well, that's a really good question. 38 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,840 So, I think the prescription to fight that is, first of all, at the 39 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,880 overall government level, there are a lot -- a lot of interventions governments can do, 40 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,720 including the U.S. government. There's a really nice surgeon general's report that 41 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,720 actually lays out a road map for responding to misinformation and disinformation 42 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,760 at various levels, from the federal to the state to the local government. 43 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,760 So, without going into the details of that report, that's a good recipe for that. 44 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,560 At the individual level, what we can do is, for our friends and family, 45 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,560 to make sure that they have access to the right information. So, the second thing is, 46 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,560 we should be argumentative. The third thing is, we should lead with facts and empathy, rather than 47 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:20,760 our instinct to correct the disinformation and, by doing so, repeating the disinformation. 48 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,400 And then the last thing is to have a long engagement with our loved ones who have 49 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,600 misinformation or disinformation readily accessible, rather than the expectation that, 50 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:40,120 in one righteous conversation, we're going to convert people to the cause of vaccination and 51 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,280 actually sort of remove them all to the - - from the all the exposure they have 52 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,920 to misinformation and disinformation around COVID and vaccines specifically. 53 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,560 JOHN YANG: Dr. Saad Omer of the Yale Institute for Global Health, thank you very much. 54 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:01,560 DR. SAAD OMER: My pleasure.