Two new studies suggest that COVID-19 Omicron variant infection is deadlier than influenza, with one finding that US veterans hospitalized with Omicron in fall and winter 2022-23 died at a 61% higher rate than hospitalized flu patients, and the other revealing that Israeli adults hospitalized with flu were 55% less likely to die within 30 days than those admitted for Omicron in the 2021-22 flu season.
...Their achievement represents the first real-world test of the technology's capability to diagnose disease in exhaled human breath. Their study on this topic was published in the Journal of Breath Research.
Pfizer’s vaccine is already in the FDA approval process and Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told CNBC from Davos on Wednesday that it will be filing for FDA approval for its vaccine soon — it even had a plan in place for top executives to be ready to submit over the holidays if needed.
Of course, the situation is uneven across the country, and some places have more illnesses than others. But some doctors say patient traffic is easing.
...researchers have found that viruses that surge in the winter, including influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — survive best when the relative humidity in the air falls below about 40 percent.