Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN on December 16, 2021 that the U.S. is facing an imminent COVID-19 “viral blizzard.” “In the next three to eight weeks, we’re going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus, and that will be overlaid on top of Delta,” said Osterholm.
New York City, America’s original pandemic epicenter, is displaying warning signs of yet another drastic surge of the virus, this time likely driven by the Omicron variant.
A new study showed that having had COVID-19 offers little protection against the Omicron variant, Bloomberg reported. Booster shoots could bring up protection to 90%. President Biden warned unvaccinated Americans that the Omicron variant will start to spread more rapidly in the U.S. if they do not receive their shots soon.
In a mater of a few weeks Omicron has already circumvented the world. It is everywhere. The surge is happening quickly in a matter of weeks rather than over months. At Cornell University here in the U.S. 900 cases were detected among the students. Many of those Omicron infections were among fully vaccinated students. Some even had booster doses. Vaccines can blunt the serious illness associated with infection. There have been no reports of severe infections requiring hospitalization. The school shut down its campus and lessons are being taught online.
A study not yet pier reviewed showed that Omicron replicates 70% faster that the original COVID-19 virus and the Delta variant in the bronchus or airways to the lungs. This can explain why people are so infectious. They also found that Omicron does replicated 10 times slower in the lungs which could be good news meaning there might be far less serious infection requiring oxygen and incubation. Only time will tell how this Blizzard of infection will effect America’s unvaccinated population. I am keeping my eyes on England which is several weeks ahead of us in this global wave of infection.