Amid Omicron, Stay The Course With COVID Protocols, Atlantic Health Experts Say

NORTH JERSEY — Atlantic Health System knows as well as any institution how quickly coronavirus information evolves. The major New Jersey health care provider filmed a video focused on the omicron variant at about noon Thursday, acknowledging much could change by the time people watch.

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But amid the variant's emergence, the experts' message didn't change. They continued encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and to keep following mitigation protocols.

"My message hasn’t really changed over the past few weeks," said Chief Physician Dr. Steven Sheris. "We’re still focused on getting as many people vaccinated as possible."

About 30 percent of New Jersey hasn't been vaccinated against the virus at all, and only 15 have received their booster shots, according to Sheris. But Sheris said the public response to the pandemic must also include environmental awareness and hygienic protocols, such as washing hands and monitoring crowdedness.

The variant has been detected in five states as of Friday afternoon, including five confirmed cases in New York. Scientists around the world are racing to find out more about the vaccines' effectiveness against omicron, along with the severity and contagiousness of the variant.

"Without the necessary information," said Dr. Jason Kessler, Morristown Medical Center's section chief of infectious disease, "we can’t make any firm conclusion as to this particular variant’s transmissibility or contagiousness as compared to previous variants, nor are we able to say whether this variant produces more-severe illness or less-severe illness."

Kessler and Sheris believe people will continue to live with COVID-19, as they have with other coronaviruses. And while this virus may be here to stay, it won't always cause pandemic levels of concern, he says.

"I think we may reach a point at some point in the future where this virus looks very similar to those (more mild) viruses," Kessler said. "But I believe we’ll always be in a situation where people who are highly vulnerable will need to be taking precautions above and beyond perhaps what a young, healthy person might need to do."

Watch the full video below:

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