Virus hooks onto

You know by now that nothing about the coronavirus is predictable. Yet in order to plan for each and every scenario, the CDC and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response have just crafted Pandemic Planning Scenarios that "are designed to help inform decisions by modelers and public health officials who utilize mathematical modeling.

They also estimate that 0. Additionally, they:. Yet since they are "scenarios are intended to advance public health preparedness and planning," it's best to assume they are correct as you judge how to move throughout your day.

The best case scenario is that you can personally help lower the fatality rate. Deborah Lee, a medical writer for Dr Fox. Adults in the 70—year-old age group have a case fatality rate of 8.

The likelihood of additional pre-existing conditions increases with age and this makes older adults more susceptible to developing severe disease. Asymptomatic transmission is a constant threat to the elderly population. COVID patients with diabetes are especially at high risk of severe disease and mortality, due to several factors such as impaired immune response and increased inflammatory response. Studies have also found correlations between COVID and blood groups, with blood group A possibly being more susceptible to the disease, and blood group O being more protected.

Researchers have also found significantly higher SARS-CoV-2 mortality rates in males than in females, possibly due to hormonal and immune system response differences. Strong correlations have also been made between nutrition and exercise, and immune cells and inflammation. Studies have linked moderate-intense exercise to reduced risks of contracting SARS-CoV-2, and increased immune functions that boost the body against the virus.

This is true not only for the coronavirus, but also influenza, pneumonia and several other infectious diseases. Correlations have also been made with poor air quality, causing weaker airway defence mechanisms and an increased risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 in North Italy. The same correlation has been found in China where elevated concentrations of air pollutants were found in heavily affected COVID regions.

Faced with mutations, T cells will usually simply ignore them and annihilate their targets all the same. But they can help bring disease under control before it gets too severe. Boosters then build on that foundation. Each additional dose serves as a scare tactic, terrifying the body into vanquishing a foe it was sure had been defeated before. More immune cells get mobilized. Antibody numbers skyrocket.

Months after vaccination, researchers can still see evidence of B cells trying to hew their antibodies into better weapons , just in case the virus returns. Fighting this variant could be, in many ways, a new and important reason to dose up again. Similar concerns fueled the development of Beta - and Delta-specific boosters earlier this year, but we never actually had to use them.

Beta mostly petered out on its own ; against both variants, the original-recipe shots seem to have done just fine. But he and others advise against waiting for a more bespoke vaccine.

Viral variants will always turn around faster than new vaccines. Read: The coronavirus could get worse. Their power is mainly iterative, restorative; they lift what has already been laid down.

If anything, the threat of Omicron is a reminder of the potency of first doses. The more people who stay unvaccinated, the more difficult it will be for the fully vaccinated, and the boosted, to keep a fast-moving, fast-changing virus at bay.