It has been evident for some time now that while the omicron variant is more transmissible than earlier COVID variants, it also appears to cause less severe symptoms. But for whatever reason, the Biden administration has been unwilling to admit this. At least until today.

Pressed by ABC News’s Jonathan Karl on ABC This Week if he was “comfortable now in saying that omicron is wildly contagious but not as severe a disease,” President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said, “Yes.”