The Omicron variant is significantly less severe than other strains of COVID-19, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms.
The agency revealed data Wednesday showing the risk of hospitalization caused by the virus was halved for people who contracted Omicron as compared to the Delta variant. Once some was in the hospital, they were 75 percent less likely to require intensive care.
Omicron also rarely, if ever causes deaths, according to the report, with a mortality rate 91 percent lower than that of Delta.
While it has long been known by health officials and experts alike that the Omicron variant is not as deadly as its predecessor, the data gives a clear look as to how much lower the mortality rate really is.
During the news conference Wednesday where the data was revealed, Walensky also noted that a recent ten percent uptick in Covid deaths in the U.S. is actually being caused by the Delta variant, not the highly prevalent Omicron strain.
Data from the CDC shows that people infected by the Omicron variant (green) are 50% likely to be hospitalized within 14 days of first feeling symptoms than those infected by Delta (purple)
Those that are hospitalized with Omicron (green) are 75% less likely to require intensive care than people who are hospitalized with the Delta variant (purple)
The CDC research team found that people infected with the Omicro variant (green) rarely died, and were at a 91% decreased risk when compared to people infected with the Delta strain (purple)
The CDC gathered data from 70,000 Southern Californians for the study, 50,000 of which were infected with the Omicron variant. The others had the Delta strain.
The highly infectious variant quickly erupted in the U.S. after its discovery by South African health officials in late November.
Currently, the U.S. is averaging 750,515 new cases every day, the second highest daily total recorded yet in the pandemic - only trailing Tuesday's total - with 1,716 deaths being attributed to the
