Omicron's Hold on the United States Increases 5X in One Week

Omicron is proving that the expectations about it being highly infectious were true and the variant is now five times more prevalent in the United States than it was a week ago.

Cases of COVID-19 are surging across the United States and Omicron is now the dominant variant in the United States, breaking Delta's five-month hold on America. Omicron was believed to be even more infectious than Delta and in one week, the percentage of Omicron cases in the United States increased five-fold.

As of December 11, Omicron accounted for about 12 percent of sequenced cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On Tuesday, the CDC reported Omicron was responsible for 73 percent of sequenced cases in the week ending on December 18.

Omicron was first identified in the United States on December 1, about a week after being discovered in South Africa. In the three weeks since, all but two states–Oklahoma and South Dakota–have identified cases of Omicron and officials are warning the surge will get worse before it gets better.

New York City is seeing a 60 percent increase in cases and Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the surge will continue for a few weeks, causing the city to see an influx in cases. However, he said on Monday that the bright side is that officials expect the surge to only last a few weeks before cases start to drop.

While Omicron is believed to cause less severe disease than Delta, global health officials are warning that an increased number of infections will lead to some people being hospitalized. Increasing the number of hospital patients at a time when health care facilities are already being pushed to their breaking points could mean increased numbers of deaths, as well.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden warned that unvaccinated Americans are looking at a "winter of severe illness and death," both for themselves and people seeking care at the hospitals they'll overwhelm. He urged people to get vaccinated if they haven't done so already and also get their booster dose if they're eligible.

Omicron's proven to be able to infect vaccinated people and officials believe it'll diminish the efficiency of the current vaccines. However, it's not expected to render vaccines completely ineffective and studies show that booster doses still provide a good amount of protection against serious illness and death.

On Monday, Harris County (Texas) Judge Lina Hidalgo announced they had their first Omicron-related death, which may be the first in the country. The man, who was in his 50s and had an underlying health condition, was not vaccinated, but had previously been infected with COVID-19.

Harris County Public Health Director Barbie Robinson said people should use the man's death as a reminder about the severity of COVID-19 and its variants.