Omicron Now Accounts For 3% Of U.S. Covid Cases — 7 Times Higher Than Week Ago
Topline
The brand new omicron coronavirus variant was linked to almost 3% of Covid-19 instances within the U.S. final week, in line with new estimates from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, a pointy enhance from the week earlier than.
A Covid-19 take a look at heart at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) on December 01, 2021 in Los … [+]
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Key Details
The CDC estimates roughly 2.9% of U.S. instances between December 5-11 had been linked to the omicron variant, or B.1.1.259, whereas the delta variant, B.1.617.2, remained dominant, making up 96.7% of instances.
The omicron variant was detected in solely 0.4% of instances between November 28 and December 4.
The variant accounted for 13.1% of instances in New York, New Jersey, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which the feds have mixed into one area for monitoring, the best share of any area—up from simply 2% the week earlier than.
In Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, 3.7% of instances had been linked to omicron, and a couple of.7% within the area containing Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
New England and the area overlaying Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin recorded 2% of instances linked to the variant.
All different areas recorded 0.5% or fewer omicron instances, with just about no instances recorded in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Massive Quantity
30. That’s the variety of states the place Covid-19 instances linked to the omicron variant have been detected as of Monday, together with Washington, D.C., according to the CDC.
What To Watch For
The tempo of unfold of the omicron variant unfold within the U.S. World Well being Group Director-Normal Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday the variant is “spreading at a price now we have not seen with any earlier variant” and a few specialists have predicted the variant might doubtlessly turn out to be the dominant pressure worldwide in a matter of weeks. Dr. Anthony Fauci instructed CNN Tuesday he believes omicron will “for certain” turn out to be the dominant pressure within the U.S., “given its doubling time.”
What We Don’t Know
A lot continues to be unclear about omicron, together with how transmissible it’s, how extreme it’s and the way protecting vaccines are towards the pressure. Some early information signifies the variant might produce much less extreme illness than earlier strains of the coronavirus, although U.Ok. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday a minimum of one Covid-19 dying within the nation has been linked to omicron. Early research have found the preliminary Covid-19 vaccine collection of two doses might present drastically decrease safety towards an infection from the omicron variant—although the pictures nonetheless seem to offer sturdy safety towards extreme illness—and booster pictures are seemingly key to producing greater ranges of immunity towards the variant.
Key Background
The omicron variant was first detected in southern Africa in late November and has since been recognized in 77 international locations, although Tedros mentioned Tuesday the variant is “most likely in most international locations, even when it hasn’t been detected but.” The variant was first detected within the U.S. on December 1, although the CDC has since discovered an individual contaminated with the variant was experiencing signs as early as November 15, indicating omicron had seemingly been spreading within the U.S. longer than beforehand identified. The White Home applied a journey ban on guests from many southern African international locations after the variant was first detected overseas, and several other states together with New York and California have imposed new masks restrictions in mild of the brand new variant, although various different states have to this point mentioned they received’t be following go well with.
Additional Studying
Right here’s What The CDC Is aware of About The First U.S. Omicron Instances (Forbes)
Pfizer Shot Simply 33% Efficient Towards Omicron An infection, However Largely Prevents Extreme Illness, South Africa Research Finds (Forbes)
New York’s Masks Mandate Takes Impact As Omicron Spreads — However Different Governors Say They Received’t Observe Swimsuit (Forbes)
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