5 reasons why you shouldn’t care less about Omicron variant | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
5 reasons why you shouldn’t care less about Omicron variant

Coronavirus chronicle

TBS Report
12 January, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 12 January, 2022, 01:07 pm

Related News

  • Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 may be dominant in Europe soon: Health agency
  • First case of new Covid sub-variant Omicron BF.7 detected in Bangladesh: IEDCR
  • 'Covid cases still low but no alternative to caution'
  • China's Xi told EU less lethal Omicron opens way for fewer Covid restrictions
  • New Omicron sub-variant ‘XBB’ detected in Bangladesh

5 reasons why you shouldn’t care less about Omicron variant

TBS Report
12 January, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 12 January, 2022, 01:07 pm
A person is tested for Covid-19 in Times Square as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, US, December 20, 2021.  Photo :Reuters
A person is tested for Covid-19 in Times Square as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, US, December 20, 2021. Photo :Reuters

When recent studies and the present situation suggest that the impact of Covid-19 Omicron variant can be dealt with little to modest implications when inoculated against the virus, the obvious question arises "Why not we just get it and be done with Omicron?"

"Moreover, it comes with mild symptoms and can boost immunity, right?"

"The idea of intentionally trying to catch Omicron is like playing with dynamite," Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Executive Director Dr Robert Murphy told CNN.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"It's caught on like wildfire and coming from all types of people, the vaccinated and boosted and the anti-vaxxers," he added, with a warning. "You'd be crazy to try to get infected with this."

Here are five reasons why one should not purposely try to catch Omicron.

It's not just a 'bad cold'

Significant fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, sore throats and heavy congestion are often reported even in milder cases of Omicron variant, Murphy said, leaving people debilitated for days.

"People are talking about Omicron like it's a bad cold. It is not a bad cold," Murphy said. "It's a life-threatening disease."

A recent study of over a million people published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the risk of a severe outcome from Covid-19 was higher in vaccinated people who were 65 or older, people with weakened immune systems, or people who had at least one of the following health conditions: diabetes or chronic kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic or liver disease.

However, even people without any underlying health conditions can get severely ill, Murphy said. "I have a vaccinated, boosted patient right now -- over 65 with no underlying risk factors — who is in the hospital and doing poorly."

It is true that if you catch the Omicron variant of Covid-19, as opposed to the Delta variant, "you're less likely to be hospitalized, less likely to go to the ICU (intensive care unit), less likely to be put on a mechanical ventilator and less likely to die -- and that's true of all age groups," Offit said.

"But that doesn't mean that it can't be a severe illness," Offit added. "It's just less severe. But you don't have a 0% chance of dying. You should never want to get infected."

It can turn to be a long Covid

Losing your sense of smell (and therefore your sense of taste) has become a more common symptom in mild cases of Covid-19. Studies show some 80% of people recover the ability within a month or so, but others still can't smell or taste after six months or more. An unfortunate few may never regain those two senses.

As unpleasant as that may be, it's only one of a number of health concerns that can last and last after a case of Covid-19. Called "long Covid," the phenomenon is characterized by such debilitating symptoms as shortness of breath, severe fatigue, fever, dizziness, brain fog, diarrhea, heart palpitations, muscle and abdominal pain, mood changes and sleep difficulties.

Severe forms of long Covid can damage lungs, heart and kidneys, as well as your mental health and may qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal statutes.

"We're still trying to understand long Covid," Offit said. "Because we don't understand it, I wouldn't be so quick to want to get an infection from a natural virus.

"A natural virus is always called the wild type virus, and there's a good reason for that: It's out of control," Offit said. "Don't ever risk catching an infection from a natural virus."

Becoming a potential Covid spreader for vulnerable groups

Just over half (54%) of children between the ages of 12 and 17 eligible for Covid-19 vaccines have been fully vaccinated. Only 23% of children between ages 5 and 11 have received their first dose, according to the CDC.

Because booster doses -- considered a key warrior in the fight against Omicron --were just approved by the CDC for children as young as 12 last week, few children have received that third shot.

That means any risky behaviour that might expose you to Omicron, such as not wearing a mask, not following social distancing guidelines, or gathering with crowds, especially indoors, will potentially expose others who may then carry the virus to their children.

Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows an upward trend of infections in children, which far exceeds "the peak of past waves of the pandemic."

"For the week ending January 6th, over 580,000 child Covid-19 cases were reported," according to numbers released Monday by the AAP.

"This number is a 78% increase over the 325,000 added cases reported the week ending December 30th and an almost tripling of case counts from the two weeks prior," the AAP stated.

Covid-19 Infections in children have typically been mild so far in the pandemic, but the sheer magnitude of cases caused by the very contagious Omicron variant is sending children under age 18 to hospitals in record numbers, according to data from the CDC.

"I would say the best way to keep those children protected is to vaccinate them as they're eligible and surround them by siblings and parents who are vaccinated themselves," said CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky in a Friday news conference.

Adding burden to already stressed health care system

By deliberately catching any variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is the official name of the novel coronavirus, "you're going to keep the pandemic going and stress the health care system," Murphy said.

Over the weekend, nearly a quarter of the more than 5,000 hospitals that report into the US Department of Health and Human Services said they were suffering a "critical staff shortage." That's a larger number than any other time during the pandemic, the data showed.

Staffing shortages are expected to grow even more as frontline health care workers are either infected or forced to quarantine after being exposed to Covid-19. The dearth of health care staff couldn't come at a worse time -- more than 138,000 Covid-19 patients were in US hospitals as of Saturday, according to HHS.

In addition, the HHS data found that ICUs across the country are more than 80% full, with almost 30% of the beds being used to treat Covid-19 patients. Elective surgeries are being cut, and health care officials are worried that the nation's health system won't be able to do its job.

"The health care system is not just designed to take care of people with Covid. It's designed to take care of kids with appendicitis and people who have heart attacks and get into car accidents," Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, told CNN on Sunday.

"And all of that is going to be much, much more difficult because we have a large proportion of the population that is not vaccinated, plenty of high-risk people who are not boosted," he added.

It's imprudent to mess with natural process

Was it ever a good idea to catch a disease on purpose? Those of a certain age will recall when parents used to host "chicken-pox parties" to expose their young children to an infected child. Because cases of adult chickenpox are more severe, the idea was to have your child catch it early to "get it over with."

"Oh, that was a bad idea too," Offit said. He told a story about an educational film on vaccines he made years ago, and the cameraman revealed he had a sister who had taken her child to a chickenpox party. Tragically, the child died from the infection.

"Don't mess with Mother Nature," he said. "She's been trying to kill us ever since we crawled out of the ocean onto the land."

Top News

omicron / Omicron awareness / Omicron Covid variant / Omicron coronavirus variant / omicron covid 19

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh and US hold tariff talks on 11 July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Dhaka, Washington yet to agree on 20% of US tariff conditions: BGMEA
  • A file photo of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman speaking virtually at a party programme. Photo: Collected
    ‘Why is govt allowing this’: Tarique calls for crackdown on mob violence
  • Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, former vice-president of BGMEA. Photo: Courtesy
    35% US tariff: Bangladesh’s $10b garment trade teeters on edge

MOST VIEWED

  • Representational image
    In addition to 35% tariff, US demands 40% local value addition for 'Made in Bangladesh' goods
  • Screengrab blurred
    Killers bash in head of man with rock, stomp body with perverse pleasure
  • How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
    How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
  • Economist Abul Barkat; Photo: Courtesy
    Economist Abul Barkat arrested in graft case
  • Photo: UNB
    WHO's Saima Wazed Putul 'placed on indefinite leave' amid corruption allegations: Health Policy Watch
  • After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients
    After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients

Related News

  • Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 may be dominant in Europe soon: Health agency
  • First case of new Covid sub-variant Omicron BF.7 detected in Bangladesh: IEDCR
  • 'Covid cases still low but no alternative to caution'
  • China's Xi told EU less lethal Omicron opens way for fewer Covid restrictions
  • New Omicron sub-variant ‘XBB’ detected in Bangladesh

Features

The 2020 Harrier's Porsche Cayenne coupe-like rear roofline, integrated LED lighting with the Modellista special bodykit all around, and a swanky front grille scream OEM Plus for the sophisticated enthusiast looking for a bigger family car that isn’t boring. PHOTO: Ahbaar Mohammad

2020 Toyota Harrier Hybrid: The Japanese Macan

2h | Wheels
The showroom was launched through a lavish event held there, and in attendance were DHS Motors’ Managing Director Nafees Khundker, CEO Imran Zaman Khan, and GMs Arman Rashid and Farhan Samad. PHOTO: Akif Hamid

GAC inaugurate flagship showroom in Dhaka

2h | Wheels
After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients

After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients

23h | Panorama
Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

1d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

US-Canada trade talks still uncertain

US-Canada trade talks still uncertain

1h | TBS World
Air India crash: What happened before the plane crashed?

Air India crash: What happened before the plane crashed?

3h | TBS World
Home Affairs Advisor calls on everyone to come forward and stop violence

Home Affairs Advisor calls on everyone to come forward and stop violence

5h | TBS Today
More than a thousand layoffs at once in US government agencies

More than a thousand layoffs at once in US government agencies

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net