Happy ending thanks to Omikron: Does the variant actually bring the "Walt Disney scenario"?

Created: 2022-02-07 14:29

Germany is in the middle of the omicron wave.

(symbol photo) © Imago Images

Herd immunity thanks to Omicron, without many hospitalizations and deaths: too good to be true?

A Swiss virologist ventures an interim conclusion.

Lugano/Geneva (Switzerland) - The transition from the pandemic to the endemic phase of the coronavirus is the most discussed topic of the pandemic, which not only virologists have been dealing with since the beginning of 2020 - but also the much-plagued population: when will that be Coronavirus to a mild illness that is no longer worth mentioning?

When reports from South Africa in late 2021 suggested that the omicron variant might be more harmless than previously known variants, cautious optimism arose.

The Swiss virologist Didier Trono did not want to share it at the time.

"That would be a Walt Disney scenario," he said at the time.

So: A nice story, a happy ending - but too good to be true.

From the corona pandemic to the endemic: will Omicron bring the Walt Disney scenario?

Now another Swiss virologist describes exactly this scenario in the tabloid

: "Omicron is less pathogenic than its predecessors," says Dr.

Andreas Cerny, doctor and political advisor in Switzerland "Omicron penetrates less deeply into the lungs than the Alpha or Delta variants, we see a comparatively small number of cases in intensive care units or in hospitals in general."

For this reason, Switzerland - and other countries - could currently afford such a high number of cases.

After Trono had warned of increasing numbers of infections, hospital admissions and deaths at the turn of the year, Cerny is now spreading hope among readers in Switzerland.

But be careful, despite the omicron: virologists don't want to give the all-clear for Corona just yet

But Cerny doesn't want to commit himself either.

When asked whether the end of the pandemic is definitely imminent, he replies: "I hope so!" For Germany, the peak of the omicron wave is forecast for late February or early March.

Here, too, it should not come to a clinical collapse.

Ultimately, however, Cerny cannot say whether the Walt Disney scenario will actually come true.

Whether the endemic phase will soon follow the pandemic depends on how dangerous new virus variants are.

Because he is certain: "Omicron will not be the last option." (kat)