Omicron had been infecting thousands of people in many countries every day. The latest and most transmissible variant of COVID-19 has become dominant for almost half a year already, and it seems that it is not stopping anytime soon.
Today, two studies have shown how the omicron variant surpassed all of its predecessors despite having similar and even lower viral rates. Among the competitor that we analyzed side by side with omicron is the delta variant, which surged in just a couple of months last year.
Higher Viral Load Does NOT Make Omicron Highly Transmissive
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - JANUARY 18: People wait at a subway station on January 18, 2022, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With over 74,000 reported cases on Monday, Brazil gets closer to the figures of the worst moment of the pandemic last June. The South American country is the third in a number of infections, behind the US and India.
The studies detail the potential reason why omicron seems to have a capacity that exceeds past variants. According to the papers, the overwhelming transmission rate of omicron does not root from a large viral load. Instead, it simply mutated from its past variants, harnessing abilities that let it evade the vaccines on its time.
The ultra-fast spread of omicron between 2021 and 2022 was due to the improvement of its viral structure that was probably induced by vaccine immunity or past infections of SARS-CoV-2. University of Vermont's virology expert Emily Bruce said in a Nature report that the high transmissibility of the omicron for a short period of time is due to mutations and not by a large amount of virus.
Compared to omicron, the previous delta variant had a higher viral load during its earlier surge. The rate of the virus in an individual could be measured through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits, which can already be obtained through local stores. The PCR kits are the best testers for coronavirus today, and various health institutes recommend using one when in doubt of being infected.
Experts from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a study that would gather a detailed comparison between the viral loads of omicron with the rest of the SARS-CoV-2 variants. The investigation was led by Harvard's infections disease expert Yonatan Grad and their colleagues.
Delta and Omicron Still Found Infectious After Five Days of Isolation Contrary to CDC Guidelines
For this study, the authors collected data from the frequent COVID-19 testings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The PCR test results gathered from the nose and throat swabs showed that the delta had a slightly higher viral load rate to its victims than omicron patients. Grad said that the results were unexpected, considering that omicron took over only two months after the surge of the delta.
University of Geneva (UNIGE) virology expert Benjamin Meyer said that the Grad's results were interesting, as a highly transmissive virus often causes a higher viral load. To add more knowledge about this phenomenon, Meyer and their colleagues presented a separate paper that included the viral RNA measurements and the infectious particles that were harnessed on the swabs.
This study was made possible through the help of a separate 150 people that were infected with COVID-19. According to Meyer's results, there were no significant differences in viral loads between the infected people with omicron and delta.
Grad finds both the results concerning, as the guidelines published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that patients infected with the coronavirus can end their isolation after five days following either testing positive or detecting the first symptom.
Contrary to the CDC guidelines, Meyer's study found that half of the delta samples are still detected with the coronavirus five days following a positive testing result. In Grad's study, omicron's viral loads were prevalent in half of the samples five days after the testing positive. The viral loads are still high enough to be infectious after the time period.
Although CDC recommends five more days of wearing a mask after the initial isolation, they did not require any negative COVID-19 test results from patients to ultimately end the isolation. According to Nature, there was still no response relayed by the CDC up to this date.
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