Omicron Jumps to Dominance Within Weeks of Its Emergence

While the U.S. is preparing for the upcoming holiday season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared some worrying data on Monday. According to its latest estimates, the Omicron variant is already dominant in the United States, having accounted for 73 percent of new infections in the week ending December 18.

The highly infectious Omicron variant is causing Covid-19 cases to double every 1.5 to 3 days in regions with community transmission, the World Health Organization said last week. The new variant, which was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, appears capable of evading the immune response triggered by infection or two-dose vaccination. Booster doses, however, have been shown to offer good protection against infection and severe illness.

And while some data from South Africa suggests that the Omicron variant could cause less severe illness than the Delta variant, health experts have been adamant that such conclusions are premature and not transferable to other countries, each with a different set of variables. Even if it turns out that Omicron is slightly less severe than the Delta variant, its exponential spread still poses an immense threat as it is almost certain to overwhelm health systems if not properly contained. As experts have repeatedly stressed, a slightly less dangerous virus variant that is far more contagious, will almost certainly end up causing more harm than a dangerous virus that is not spreading as quickly.