The omicron variant of the coronavirus is inherently far milder than delta, with deaths 90% less common among infected people, according to a major new study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new analysis, heralded Wednesday by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, is good news amid the massive wave of omicron infections.
“During a period with mixed Delta and Omicron variant circulation, SARS-CoV-2 infections with presumed Omicron variant infection were associated with substantially reduced risk of severe clinical endpoints and shorter durations of hospital stay,” the study’s authors said.
Scientists in California analyzed nearly 52,300 positive cases of infection due to omicron as well as about 17,000 cases due to delta. They reported that people infected with the omicron variant had a 53% decreased risk of symptomatic hospitalization compared with those infected with delta, as well as a 74% drop in risk of ICU admission and a 91% reduction in mortality. No omicron patients needed to be connected to a ventilator, while 11 patients with the delta variant did.
Notably, the study broke out results by vaccination or previous infection status, providing a look at whether the omicron variant is intrinsically less severe and whether population immunity from previous infections and vaccination has meant that it is less adept at ravaging the population. Previous analyses had not contained such information.
“Reductions in disease severity associated with Omicron variant infections were evident among both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, and among those with or without documented prior SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the report said.
The omicron variant has led to record spikes in new COVID-19 cases, with the United States recording an average of more than 730,000 per day, according to tracking by the New York Times. The U.S. recorded more than 1.3 million new cases on Monday alone, the highest daily total for any country in the world.
“While less severe, #Omicron is much more transmissible & we are seeing the unprecedented impact,” Walensky said Wednesday.
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The actual total infection number is higher because people who self-test at home often do not report their positive results to public health authorities. Despite promising evidence that the omicron variant causes less severe symptomatic illness, hospitalizations across the U.S. have increased more than 80% in the past two weeks.
More than 151,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with more than 79% of hospital beds in use, according to federal data tracking. Still, that total does not stipulate how many of those patients were symptomatic when admitted or if they went to the hospital for another health problem but tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival.
