About three months, but that could
roll into spring or summer because
of course they'd still need to go
through that FDA authorization process.
So a lot of you understandably have
questions about this new variant.
I want to bring in Doctor David,
winner from Baylor, Scott and White
help to help answer some of them.
Good morning. Good to see you.
Good morning, good to be with you
so only a few cases of this Omicron
variant have been identified in EU. S.
Is it definitely going to be a problem?
I mean, do we know how widespread
this could potentially be?
Is it going to be like the delta variant?
That's the important question.
Here is what's important to know the standard
test to detect whether you have coronavirus.
Don't tell you where they have a
variant or not, so I think as we do,
more testing will find that is even
more widespread right now than we know.
So if you have COVID,
we don't know if it's the variant
Delta Omicron right now,
special testing is required.
That's being done now around the country,
but that isn't done routinely,
so we don't know how how
wide it spread right now.
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
You have to sequence in order to
determine which variant you have.
What do we know about this variant?
So far more contagious?
Does it cause more serious infection?
Yeah, the scientists have been
able to detail exactly how this
virus is different from the previous one
and the important thing though there's
50 different mutations in this one,
so there's some opportunity there that
these might be advantageous mutations,
meaning they can spread faster.
We don't know that yet.
I think it's going to take time to
see how it responds in a community
where there's lots of delta,
so who wins? But yeah,
it's it's contagious and how serious it is.
That's another question.
The good news, if it's if we can talk
about this down in South Africa,
most folks didn't get that sick.
But they're mostly younger populations,
so we don't really answer
about that yet either.
More information to come.
I think we know a whole lot
more in the next week or two.
Information is coming in
very rapidly right now.
Yeah, no doubt.
I think a lot of people doctor
winter right now we're going OK.
Well, I've I've gotten my vaccines,
or I've gotten my booster.
So is this going to work against Omicron,
as it makes its way across Texas?
And I mean, I think realistically,
we know that it's probably already here,
we just haven't confirmed it yet.
Yeah, I think it's important to point
out that we've been lucky here in Texas.
The cases are down right now,
but COVID is surging in seven different
states right now in the country.
And so it's out there.
It's likely to come back.
This oma Cron may make it even worse.
We don't know that for sure yet.
So what can we do?
We've got to stop the spread of this virus,
and we know what works.
Vaccines work. We know.
Wearing masks work,
distancing yourself,
trying to avoid large crowds
when you can wash your hands,
all those things work.
I think right now we need to double
down because we may be in for a big surge.
A big problem I worry about
that we've got COVID.
We've got flu season coming up so we
all need to take special precautions
now to stop the spread of viruses.
Please do what you can do.
Yeah,
and I like the recommendations you mentioned,
I would imagine boosters could
be helpful at this point as well.
If you haven't gotten those yet.
I think that's an important
point that also because indeed,
if you get a booster,
you increase your antibodies,
which may help with omicron clear.
They help with Delta,
so if you haven't gotten a booster, get that.
If you hadn't gotten the vaccine,
please reconsider now.
Is it time to look to look this
thing in the eye and say I recognize
it's a serious threat to us?
We need to stop the spread of this virus
and doctor winner is we're coming into
this like really busy holiday season.
I think people are going to
want to think ahead to travel.
Do you think they should be traveling?
I know that.
Things are sort of fluid and changing right,
but as it relates to travel,
especially going in and out of
the country or even kind of
traveling throughout EU.
S, What do you think we should be doing here?
Well, I think you need to
think twice about that.
Certainly if you get out in crowds,
wear mask, maybe even a double mask.
I think if you're going to be
with your family and friends of
smaller the group the better.
If everyone is vaccinated,
you should feel a whole lot
more comfortable with that.
If you have family members or
friends that aren't vaccinated,
be careful about that.
This virus is really a bad virus right now.
Even the delta virus seven states.
It's surging where low here.
It's bound to come back around,
I think.
So I think we're in for a
big trouble right now.
And with all the crowds and the travel.
Be careful out there people.
I worry about this spread
and I worry about another
surge coming to all of us.
OK, we're just doing the best
we can at this point Dr Winner.
It was good to see you.
Thank you as always for this
information is Doctor Winner said
for the latest information about
this Omicron variant or vaccines.
You can do a couple of things.
You can stay up to date on
the CDC's website, of course,
but also head to wfaa.com.
Or you can text the word COVID to the
number here on your screen 214977.
6028 and will send a link
right to your phone.