National Interest
Once again, Christmas and New Year’s will be celebrated by Americans amid quickly rising coronavirus cases. But this time, they are largely fueled by the new and highly mutated Omicron coronavirus variant.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the variant, which was first detected in South Africa only about a month ago, now accounts for 90 percent of all coronavirus cases in some parts of the United States. Overall, it represents more than 73 percent of all cases in the country.
It was just last week when U.S. health officials said Omicron accounted for only 2.9 percent of all cases.
“This rapid increase in the proportion of Omicron circulating around the country is similar to what we’ve seen across the world,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday during a press briefing on the virus at the White House.
Jeff Zients, the White House COVID response coordinator, had previously acknowledged that the unvaccinated are eight times more likely to end up hospitalized and fourteen times more likely to die when compared to those who have been vaccinated.
“Early data on the vaccine is promising against the omicron variant,” Walensky noted. “Especially when people are boosted…
