December 21, 2021 – The Omicron variant caused more than 70% of recent Covid-19 cases in the U.S., the CDC said Monday, highlighting its substantial increase in infectiousness compared with earlier versions of the virus, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Omicron has now overtaken the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the U.S. and accounted for an estimated 73% of infections for the week ending Dec. 18. In many parts of the U.S., Omicron now makes up more than 90% of cases, the CDC said. Infectious-disease experts have said they believe the true share is likely even higher than that.
New York state reported a record number of Covid-19 infections for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, when officials said 23,391 people had tested positive for the virus. Just over 4,000 people were hospitalized around the state, compared with peak levels of almost 19,000 in April of 2020.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was setting up a system that would allow residents to order tests online. The state will also distribute 5 million rapid tests to school districts in an effort to cut down on required quarantine times starting in January.
The Omicron variant is causing Covid-19 cases to double every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission, the WHO said over the weekend. The variant is spreading rapidly even in places with high levels of immunity in the population, the United Nations agency said.