Health officials in a West Coast state and Northern city said the proof is really in the water. Testing done on wastewater has, in fact, revealed the Omicron Variant is present. It is a precursor to the widespread transmission of the variant.
Health Officials and Waste Samples
“Actually, we still have a lot of Delta Variant in the waste samples,” says Fresno County Interim Asst. Public Health Director Joe Prado. “However, there is Omicron there, but when we see Omicron really start to take over the waste-water sampling. We should, in fact, start to see clinical cases increase as well.”
For the past few months, it is a method that the city of Fresno and Fresno County has been using to monitor COVID variants. Then, after the first Omicron case was discovering in early December, although it did not take long for it to show up in the wastewater days later.
Health officials are optimistic it will be, in fact, short-lived basing on the trends in countries outside of the U.S, though it hasn’t fully arrived yet Central California.
“Therefore, it does have a major surge but it will really only last for roughly 30 days,” Prado said.
Also, the national statistics do show they are quickly rising in the number of children who are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Hospitalization Surge is Slow
The hospitalization surge is slow according to Valley Children’s Health in a local region. The mid-December latest numbers do show three patients are hospitalized.
In the meantime, there are updating guidelines from the CDC Monday for those who test positive for COVID-19 with no symptoms.
Actually, the isolation period is slashing in half from 10 days now to five days.
“Therefore, if you have symptoms, you should not be going out,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci. “However, if you are asymptomatic and that you are infecting. We want to get people back to the jobs, in particular, are those with essential jobs to keep our society running smoothly.”
