Even as scientists race to perceive extra concerning the Omicron variant and the menace it poses, one truth is abundantly clear: It spreads rapidly all over the place it lands.
In South Africa, Omicron unfold twice as quick because the extremely infectious Delta variant. In Denmark, Omicron circumstances are doubling roughly each two days.
In the United States, Delta stays the dominant variant and was driving a surge in circumstances and hospitalizations even earlier than Omicron emerged. Roughly 120,000 new Covid circumstances are being reported each day, a 40 p.c enhance from two weeks in the past, though the figures stay beneath final winter’s peak.
But Omicron may quickly overtake Delta, scientists mentioned. Nationally, the share of circumstances attributable to Omicron has elevated to 2.9 p.c from 0.4 p.c in just every week, in accordance to projections by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still unsure is how severe the implications can be, as a lot stays unknown concerning the variant, together with how doubtless it is to trigger severe illness.
Early proof from South Africa has raised hopes that Omicron could also be milder than Delta; in a single small report, researchers there famous that sufferers in a hospital Covid ward had been much less doubtless to require supplemental oxygen than throughout earlier surges.
But it is nonetheless far too early, and the info units are too small, to make broad conclusions about Omicron’s severity, particularly as a result of hospitalizations and deaths usually lag a number of weeks behind infections.
“I’m not counting that as good news just yet,” mentioned Shweta Bansal, a illness ecologist at Georgetown University.
Recommend
