A healthcare worker performs a COVID-19 PCR test at a free testing site in Farragut Square on December 28 in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, the CDC revised data to reflect the prevalence of the virus. omicron variation in new COVID-19 cases.
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A healthcare worker performs a COVID-19 PCR test at a free testing site in Farragut Square on December 28 in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, the CDC revised data to reflect the prevalence of the virus. omicron variation in new COVID-19 cases.
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
The warning that the super-infectious omicron variant that accounted for the majority of new COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks has been significantly overestimated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. disease prevention.
New data released on Tuesday shows that while omicron remains the dominant variant, delta – which is the more severe variant – remains the worrisome driver behind the current increase.
The CDC previously reported that as of December 18, 73% of new cases are related to omicron. But on Tuesday, the agency revised those figures, slashing the estimate to 23% – a drop of 50 points, suggesting that while the new variant is on the rise, it’s not infecting everyone. at the rate that the CDC had predicted.
Dr Shruti Gohil, associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UC Irvine School of Medicine, told NPR: “There’s no way to solve this problem, it’s a huge upheaval that makes it so Looks like something really isn’t right.” “But there’s always a delay in the experimental information being brought in, and that’s something the public should get rid of.”
Mr. Gohil said Omicron struck just as public health experts were preparing to test the delta strain.
“The way we test and the way we have confidence in the numbers are both constantly changing right then and there. Then this new variation comes along and now here you’re trying to make a something when you don’t have all Gohil said.
The latest CDC report adjusts the numbers and better reflects what was happening across the country at the time, she added.
The most recent report shows that as of December 25, 59% of all infections in the US are due to omicrons. Meanwhile, the delta accounted for 41% of the cases in the same period. And the number of those infections could be even higher, given the agency’s margin of error on the data it collects. The real number can be as high as 58%.
Given the CDC’s update, Gohil said, “The implication is that we have a lot of deltas going on and that requires more attention.”
That is especially true for people who have become increasingly lax in their prevention habits due to reports that omicrons are a milder variant of the virus and are less likely to be hospitalized than in the delta.
“People are thinking, ‘Oh, omicrons aren’t that bad,’ she said. “But actually it’s too early to really know even that. Besides, delta is the monster you should be worried about.”
Until the advent of omicrons, delta was the most contagious variant of the virus, and CDC studies show that it is more likely to lead to hospitalization in unvaccinated people than other strains.
Gohil adds that the CDC’s new findings are also forcing hospitals to recalibrate because delta or omicron treatment requires different drugs and antibodies.
“The bottom line is, don’t take off the mask but vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate – and boost,” says Gohil.
