Is getting Omicron a big deal?

I put out a simple Tweet recently asking whether people were experiencing a spike in people they knew catching Covid-19. (https://twitter.com/NatAsasi/status/1493780281668489223)

The response was quite overwhelming, with maybe 95% of those responding saying yes.

In late April 2021, we were getting about 3,000 daily new cases.

In mid January 2022, we were getting about 3,000. One month later, in mid February, we are now above 27,000 cases. In 2021, we took some four months to make that leap. In 2022, we only needed one month to make a similar leap.

We’ve all been traumatised by Covid-19 in various ways, and after our brief return to some semblance of normalcy, many of us get some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder whenever anyone talks about returning to stricter measures. I can definitely understand the sentiment..

In the face of what is very clearly a huge Omicron wave hitting us right now though, it’s important we don’t live in denial.

Taking Omicron seriously doesn’t mean shutting every single thing down and locking ourselves up in our homes indefinitely.

It probably should mean however, that we can’t go on living in exactly the same way we have for the last few months.

Discussing Covid-19 has become a very emotionally charged phenomenon. The kind of tribalism and antagonistic discourse that we see most commonly in politics and various ‘culture wars’ has leaked substantially into discourse surrounding Covid-19.

It has become quite common for people who are inclined to a more cavalier attitude and nonchalant about Covid-19 to feel that other people are conspiring to create unwarranted levels of fear. They sometimes perceive this as part of a larger effort by ‘powerful people’ to ‘exert control’ and ‘curtail liberties’.

For those of us who are hoping people will be more careful and conservative when it comes to dealing with Covid-19, it is important that we don’t feed these perceptions by being overly aggressive and condescending in our efforts to persuade others.

Trying to angrily scold others into wearing their masks, avoid crowds, or work from home is not likely to help us achieve our goals. Pursuit of genuine mutual understanding, compassionate listening, and gentle persuasion are much more likely to succeed.

Our failure to do so will merely add to the polarisation, and ‘militarisation’ on both sides. The case of the Canadian truck protests may be instructive here.

Coming back to our main subject: There are some who keep saying that Omicron is milder, and that getting it is no big deal.

There is some scientific basis for asserting the former. The latter however is a much more complex matter.

In dissecting that question and the relevant cost-benefit analysis (even on a purely self-interested basis), the most relevant factor we should consider is probably the question of long Covid.

My impression is that long Covid is not something that is particularly well understood yet. It is generally understood as medical symptoms that persist even after someone has recovered from Covid-19.

Some of the possible symptoms of long Covid listed by the UK’s NHS (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid/) include: fatigue, chest pain, problems with memory and concentration, insomnia, heart palpitations, joint pain, depression and anxiety, diarrhoea, and changes to smell or taste.

A study by University College London (UCL) also listed possible symptoms as speech and language issues, gastro-intestinal and bladder problems, changes to periods and skin conditions, and inability to perform tasks like showering or remembering words. (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57833394)

For me at least, these possible long Covid symptoms are definitely factors that influence my own daily decisions and risk assessments.

What’s more, we do not know for sure how long they will last. For all we know, they could be lifelong. Surely that’s too high a price to pay.

The other very high consideration for me personally is the degree to which risking myself puts others at risk.

Should I become infected, there’s a very good chance that I won’t know right away. I may be infectious and putting others at risk long before I even know I have Covid-19.

For me personally, that’s a very huge risk to take. There is no guarantee that it will be the Omicron variant I catch/spread, and no guarantee that Omicron will not have severe symptoms. I can’t bear the thought of others suffering (especially if it is, say, some lifelong long Covid situation) as a result of my own reluctance to inconvenience myself.

It’s mind boggling to think that we might infect someone, and cause them to have lifelong shortness of breath or something, just because we didn’t feel like wearing a mask on a particular day.

Spreading Covid-19 also of course contributes to overwhelming our national healthcare system. I definitely haven’t forgotten the horror and trauma that our own healthcare workers had to endure as the result of numbers totally spiralling out of control last year.

We owe it to them to protect them from repeating that experience; and even if we didn’t, overwhelming the healthcare system creates a very real, clear, and present danger to our own lives.

If too many of us aren’t taking enough precautions, the spiking numbers may result in us or our loved ones not being able to get the medical care we need when it really counts.

As to the steps we can take, I’m sure we all know the drill by now: avoid meetings where possible, work from home, mask up (especially indoors), self-test, and so on.

A special plea to employers who might be reading: please, please, please, let your employees work from home. In the long run, I guarantee that it is the better decision for you and your business.

Getting Omicron may or may not be a ‘big deal’ on an individual level. But if we once again fail to take things seriously, we could very well see a repeat of the Covid-19 horrors of 2021.

NATHANIEL TAN is concerned for the lives of Roslan Bakar and Pausi Jefridin. Twitter: @NatAsasi, Email: [e-mail]. #BangsaMalaysia #NextGenDemocracy.