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The Omicron variant currently accounts for 3 percent of coronavirus infections in the United States, which is up from 0.4 percent last week. The other 97 percent are caused by the Delta variant.

SAN FRANCISCO — The rapid growth of Omicron is prompting officials to warn that hospitals could easily become overwhelmed, potentially within weeks, as they deal with a combination of the newest variant of the coronavirus along with patients hit by a holiday wave of the Delta strain. California and the rest of the nation now face a formidable winter. According to the state’s COVID forecasting models, there are plausible scenarios in which a winter surge could hit hospitals worse than the summer Delta wave, which strained facilities across swaths of the state. The combination is “a perfect storm for overwhelming...

In a sane world, where facts and science held sway, it would all be over soon.The largely harmless omicron variant is absolutely unstoppable meaning that the more lethal delta variant has precious little time left to be a threat to anyone.The former, which I call the Variant of Freedom, disperses so rapidly that it makes delta look frozen in time. To the informed and educated mind, this is a glorious thing, indeed. But those blinded by fear and ignorance cannot see the marvelous miracle unfolding before our very eyes. The press has been loaded with doom-and-gloom stories about the omicron...

A new super-variant could be created if Omicron and Delta infect someone at the same time, one of Moderna's bosses has warned. Covid infections normally only involve one mutant strain, but in extremely rare cases two can strike at the same time. If these also infect the same cell, they may be able to swap DNA and combine to make a new version of the virus.

With the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreading through multiple countries with verified cases in Israel too, many have been reassured by statements made by doctors dealing with a widespread outbreak in South Africa... However, in comments made to UK members of Parliament today, Dr. Paul Burton, chief medical officer at Moderna, struck a warning note. “I do not think Omicron is a milder, less severe version of the current virus,” he told the Parliamentary committee on science and technology, as quoted by The Guardian. “The idea it will push Delta out of the way and take over may occur...

..... Professor Gili Regev-Yochay, head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Gertner Institute for Health Policy and Epidemiology, on Saturday night briefed reporters on a new research done at Sheba Medical Center. The research showed that the COVID-19 vaccine is four times less effective against the Omicron variant than it was against the Delta variant. "Those who are vaccinated with a third dose have a much lower chance of serious disease from the Omicron variant, but there is still a chance they will contract it," Prof. Regev-Yochay said. According to her, the less great news is that those who...

The COVID-19 Omicron variant that is spreading across the globe is “almost certainly” less severe than the virus’s Delta variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Omicron is “clearly highly transmissible” and appears to spread more quickly than Delta — but is milder. “It almost certainly is not more severe than Delta,” Fauci told Agence France-Presse. “There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number...

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist says the new Omicron COVID-19 variant could displace the Delta variant, which emerged earlier this year as the dominant strain, while researchers recently announced that Omicron may have picked up genetic material from the common cold.Soumya Swaminathan said it’s not yet clear whether Omicron is milder than other CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus variants, while casting doubt on whether it emerged in southern Africa.“It is possible that it could become [the] dominant variant,” Swaminathan said during a Reuters event on Dec. 3, adding that it’s impossible for scientists to make that prediction. The...

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PASSENGERS were left feeling a little sick when they reportedly spotted a woman breastfeeding a cat onboard a flight. According to a now-viral message which appears to be from the pilot, the woman refused to stop the questionable activity despite repeated pleas from the cabin crew. Horrified passengers onboard Delta Air flight DL1360 to Atlanta reportedly watched on in horror as the woman took caring for her cat a step too far. As the woman would not put her pet back in its carrier, the pilot demanded Delta's Redcoat ground team meet the customer after landing to reprimand her. An...

The Delta Covid variant may mutate itself into self-extinction and has already done so in one part of the world, scientists claim. Japan is recording an insignificant 140 cases a day despite being riddled with the Delta strain only three months ago. Japan endured its largest Covid wave in the late summer, with cases peaking at around 23,000 a day in August. But the wave came to an abrupt standstill and has almost completely fizzled out, with the capital Tokyo recording just 16 new cases on Friday.

CNN commentator Van Jones said Glenn Youngkin's in the Virginia governor's race could be evidence of the emergence of "the delta variant of Trumpism." Jones suggested that Youngkin, who welcomed Trump's endorsement in the contest but also sought a distance from the former president, represented the same kind of politics as Trump. But Jones said it came in a packaging that could be better sold to voters and that might help the GOP win elections. "When this election is over we will know, have we seen the emergence of the delta variant of Trumpism," Jones said Tuesday evening during CNN's...

The Delta COVID-19 variant can easily transmit from vaccinated people to their household members, said a UK study on Thursday, although top health officials concluded that vaccinations and boosters are the way forward. A study from the Imperial College London found that the Delta variant is still highly transmissible within a vaccinated population. “By carrying out repeated and frequent sampling from contacts of COVID-19 cases, we found that vaccinated people can contract and pass on infection within households, including to vaccinated household members,” Dr. Anika Singanayagam, co-lead author of the study, said in a statement. The findings, she added, provide...

Economic growth slowed sharply between July and September as the emergence of the delta variant derailed the recovery from the coronavirus recession, according to data released Thursday by the Commerce Department. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, according to the Census Bureau’s first estimate. The economy grew at a 6.7 percent yearly pace in the second quarter of 2021, marking a sharp slowdown as the delta surge began. “The increase in third quarter GDP reflected the continued economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A resurgence of COVID-19 cases resulted...

Delta Air Lines is testing new biometric technology that promises to speed you through the airport — or at the very least prevent you from repeatedly fumbling for your ID and boarding pass. The new technology will roll out in Atlanta and Detroit as soon as Nov. 3. It is only open to Delta SkyMiles members who have U.S. passports and are eligible for TSA PreCheck. They must first store their passport number in the Fly Delta app, and this new service is only open to those checking in via the app. The biometric information is pulled from a U.S....

The fall of new coronavirus infections gave a boost to consumer confidence in October but inflation fears are still rising, the Conference Board said Tuesday. “While short-term inflation concerns rose to a 13-year high, the impact on confidence was muted. The proportion of consumers planning to purchase homes, automobiles, and major appliances all increased in October—a sign that consumer spending will continue to support economic growth through the final months of 2021,” said Lynn Franco, the senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.

COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death across most of 2020, but in December 2020 and early 2021, the illness surged and briefly became the number one leading cause of death in the U.S., far surpassing even cancer and heart disease deaths in those months. With the rapid uptake in vaccinations in the months when vaccines first became widely available, COVID-19 deaths fell sharply. COVID-19 dropped to the number 7 leading cause of death in the U.S. in July 2021.

Delta Air Lines is ditching a vaccine mandate for employees, according to company CEO Ed Bastian, who notably emphasized the “divisiveness” of such an order. Bastian said announcing a plan to get all employees vaccinated, without enforcing a mandate, has worked, allowing the company to reach a 90% vaccination rate. “The reason the mandate was put in by [the] president, I believe, was because they wanted to make sure companies had a plan to get their employees vaccinated,” the CEO said, according to Fox Business. “A month before the president came out with the mandate, we had already announced our...

Delta Airlines has disavowed reports of a pilot who died from a COVID-19 vaccine in the middle of a flight. "Delta is aware of reports suggesting one of the airline's pilots passed away from vaccine complications while operating a flight, resulting in an emergency landing. All of these allegations are false," the company's statement, released Tuesday evening, said... ...Delta Airlines is the only major U.S. airline that hasn't yet required vaccines for all its employees.....

During an interview with Stew Peters, Dr Jane Ruby provided Breaking information, corroborated by multiple sources, that a Vaxxed Delta Airlines pilot died in flight within the last two weeks, an emergency landing was forced, and the company is covering it up!