 As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues its rampage across Pike County and the United States, some may be wondering how the virus differs from its counterpart, Delta. Thursday, Mountaintop had the opportunity to speak with Pikeville Medical Center's infectious disease director, Dr. Fadi Alakras, about the virus' characteristics and its effects on those infected. The good part about the COVID-19's Omicron is multiplying more in the upper respiratory system compared to the lower respiratory system. From that perspective, we can say it's less pathogenic compared to the Delta, but if you infect more people, you're going to reach the same outcome and you're going to lead to more hospitalization and admission to the hospital. Even while PMC physicians are experiencing patients with milder symptoms, such as running nose and upper respiratory issues, Omicron's reach is still creating issues for staff as its infectivity is higher. According to data from the Pike County Health Department, infections have nearly doubled from 516 active cases on the 3rd to 966 on the 13th. The question here is how vaccination could impact Omicron. I think this is going to be the major question that we need to answer. And my question is, because of vaccination, we see a lesser impact on people. And I think so. I think this is the same virus is impacting the upper and lower respiratory tract system. But I believe the vaccination, although it's not preventing 100% the spreading of the infection, it holds its activity. The goal of the vaccine is to protect you from the drastic outcome, to protect you from going to the hospital, to suffer ICU events, to go on mechanical ventilation, to not die because of the infection. And I think the vaccination is holding on that big time. According to Dr. Olocross, over 70% of those hospitalized for the virus are unvaccinated, adding the importance of protecting those with morbidities. If you look at mechanical ventilation, so you have four unmechanical ventilation and one out of four is fully vaccinated, but that individual is older and has several comorbidities. Again, the message here is vaccination is very protective. And in my opinion is fundamental to be able to overcome that SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. And hopefully at a certain point in the future, we'll be able to see what's called endemic situation because we're not going to be able to get rid of COVID-19. We're going to live with it. The goal is to tame it and calm it and make it less virulent and less pathogenic and make it ubiquitous like the common cold. That's basically the goal. It's not too eradicated because this is not an achievable goal and this is not conceivable. So we need to move to a concept that we need to live with it, but we need to make it less virulent, less pathogenic. And I still believe mitigation measures and vaccinations are going to play a major role. At Pikeville Medical Center, we believe that together we can make a difference in the fight against cancer. We are proud to have patients who have experienced successful outcomes over many years. As always, we believe in the power of faith. Pikeville Medical Center, where cancer can be defeated. On top of getting vaccinated and getting boosted, another important aspect of keeping yourself protected is making sure that confined spaces are well ventilated, as viruses can linger for more than two hours. And I think one important factor, especially with the Omicron, because it's highly contagious, probably two or four times more contagious than the Delta, infection with Omicron is mainly in confined places. This is extremely important, especially when you have the heat up and you have less humidity. This is when you aerosolize the viruses. So these viruses can go into very tiny particles that can linger in the air. Even if you leave the room, these viruses can stay there for a few hours. So air circulation is very important in confined places. If you can't avoid confined places, it's going to be ideal. If you can't open the windows and establish circulation of the air in that room, it's going to be also ideal. Because as I mentioned, they linger in the air. If you can push them out, this will cut down the risk of transmission. Anything outdoors is way safer than indoor. This is unfortunately the concept of transmission with highly transmissible infection like SARS-CoV-2. Lastly, while Dr. Olocross says PMC is more prepared to deal with viruses, he states the public should help out as well, stating the latest CDC guidance. I think the new guideline for the CDC is great. People, they think that five days is shorter. I think the problem is with SARS-CoV-2, especially with the Omicron, that the infectiousness period is two days before you start to have symptoms and three days after you develop symptoms. This is when the highest contagious period is happening. After that, the risk of transmission is minimal. So we need to focus on that period. We need people to be more compliant with the guideline to be able to cut down the spread to others. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Chorjol.