20-Minute Health Talk
20-Minute Health Talk
Northwell Health
Omicron variant: should you be concerned?
20 minutes Posted Dec 22, 2021 at 3:56 pm.
Omicron becomes dominant Covid variant
How concerned should we be?
Handling a Covid surge
Improved Covid care
How contagious is omicron?
Covid reinfection rate
Boosters protect against omicron
How severe is omicron?
The science behind the Covid booster shot
Omicron's impact on work
Boosting vaccination rates
Renewing mitigation efforts
Lessons from the first wave in New York
Predictive technology combats Covid-19
Maintaining services during a surge
Expanding Covid-19 testing
Don’t wait, get the vaccine and booster
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20:47
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Show notes
The new covid variant omicron has quickly overtaken delta as the dominant strain of Covid-19 in multiple countries, which now includes the US. New data released Dec. 20 shows omicron is responsible for 73 percent of new Covid-19 infections nationally during the week end Dec. 18; up from just 12.6 percent for the week prior. Bruce Farber, MD, chief of public health and epidemiology, and John D'Angelo, MD, senior vice president and executive director of emergency medicine services, discuss what is known so far about the more contagious Covid variant, how health systems are preparing, and urge the public to get vaccinated — and even more importantly to get a booster. 
Read more from Dr. Farber on the omicron variant.
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