Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
VARIANT PROPORTIONS IN THE U.S.
Since the week ending on Feb. 12 all the cases sequenced in the U.S. have been of the Omicron variant. There are three different lines of Omicron. According to the CDC the Omicron variant spreads more easily than the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Delta variant. CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.
The presence and severity of symptoms can be affected by COVID-19 vaccination status, the presence of other health conditions, age, and history of prior infection. Omicron infection generally causes less severe disease than infection with prior variants.
CDC recommends that everyone 5 years and older protect themselves from COVID-19 by getting vaccinated. Everyone ages 12 years and older should stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines and get a booster shot when eligible.
The CDC is contracting with large commercial diagnostic labs to sequence samples across the United States. CDC has commitments from these laboratories to sequence 20,000 samples per week, with the capacity to scale up in response to the nation’s needs.