The United States is undoubtedly the worst affected country due to the Covid outbreak. According to the latest updates, more than 8,00,000 people have succumbed to the virus in the United States, and amid steady vaccination rollout, the country is still facing a surge in Covid cases driven by the Delta variant. And now, medical experts in the country believe that a surge in the Omicron variant of the pandemic could give a double blow to the country.
Omicron may be less severe, but consequences will be deadly
According to several recent studies, it has been learned that the Omicron variant of coronavirus is not that deadly when compared to the Delta variant of the pandemic. However, the Omicron variant is supposed to be more transmissible, which means a so-called 'tidal wave' will put pressure on United States' healthcare sector.
The spread of the Omicron variant in the United States may disarm some of the lifesaving tools available and put immune-compromised and elderly people at high risk.
"Our delta surge is ongoing and, in fact, accelerating. And on top of that, we're going to add an omicron surge. That's alarming because our hospitals are already filling up. Staff are fatigued," said Dr. Jacob Lemieux of the Harvard Medical School, Associated Press reports.
Omicron variant to spread like wildfire
In a briefing on Tuesday, Lemieux and his team said that an Omicron surge is already underway in the United States. The team also noted that the Omicron variant is outpacing the nation's ability to track it.
New York and New Jersey continue to be the hotbed of the Omicron variant, and these areas contribute to 13 percent of genetically sequenced coronavirus infection nationally. However, Lemieux's team believes that these figures could be underestimated as the Omicron variant is moving so fast than expected.
