Another update from
Your Local Epidemiologist website run by epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina. Well worth reading in its entirety. A number of graphs and a great deal of good information.
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/omicron-update-dec-22Just a few excerpts below:
Omicron Update: Dec 22Well, Omicron continues to show its colors across the globe with case rates surging far beyond what we've seen with any previous waves, like in Denmark and the UK. Other countries, like France, the United States, and Canada have a recent explosion of cases pointing to the beginning of their Omicron wave. Places that put in country-wide restrictions, like the Netherlands and Germany, have altered their Omicron path thus far...
...Omicron became the dominant variant in just two short weeks and now accounts for more than 73% of cases in the United States now. By next week Omicron could easily account for 100% of cases. Will Omicron completely overtake Delta or will Delta continue its path among some groups? We should get clarity on this soon.
With more Omicron will come more cases. The Northeast has, by far, the most cases right now. Washington DC is the leader (134 cases per 100,000) in which cases have increased 440% in the past two weeks. This is followed by New York City with 121 cases per 100K and a 342% increase...
...Nationwide hospitalizations are only up a modest 13% and deaths continue to remain “low” at 1,351 deaths per day. But severe disease patterns lag cases 3-4 weeks, so we will see what happens in a few weeks. While I expect an uptick, I certainly don’t think we will reach levels like we saw in the past thanks to our vaccines and adaptive immune systems. It’s noteworthy, though, that the first Omicron death was reported this week in Houston among a male aged 50-60 years old who previously recovered from COVID19. Do not rely on previous infections to get you through this Omicron wave.
See the link above to read more.