Colleagues from GSTT in collaboration with the Royal Free and St. George’s have just published a new paper evaluating the transmission dynamics of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 vs. previous variants in hospitalised inpatients in Infection Prevention in Practice. The key finding is that the median days to inpatient contact conversion were significantly fewer for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 when compared with previous variants (median 3 days for Omicron vs. 4 days for previous variants).
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Omicron: buckle up for a bumpy ride
I’ve been meaning to write an update on the Omicron variant of concern for a few weeks’ now and it’s now or never, so here we go! The Omicron variant has a host of mutations compared with previous variants, which seems to have given it the ability to spread much more rapidly. This may well be due in part to the ability to side-step antibody mediated immunity obtained through previous infection and vaccination. Omicron is spreading rapidly in the community. We don’t yet know what impact the current rapid community spread will have on hospitalisations and ultimately deaths, so time will tell.
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Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 