While the Omicron variant accounts for 3% of coronavirus cases nationwide, the rate is 13% in densely populated New York and New Jersey.
QUICK FACTS:
- Government officials admit that the Omicron variant has a “rather profound” ability to evade whatever protection that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines provide.
- According to the Mayo Clinic, roughly 70% of New York and New Jersey residents have received two doses of the vaccine, which puts these states among the ten most-vaccinated.
- Though Omicron cases are “extremely mild,” Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky use the variant to push booster shots.
WHAT THE WORLD SAYS ABOUT OMICRON:
- The World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, cautions that, though the Omicron variant spreads quickly, it is no cause for panic.
- Walensky echoed Dr. Swaminathan, as did Dr. Angelique Coetzee, the South African who had discovered the variant.
BACKGROUND:
- Unvaccinated people account for only 20% of Omicron cases.
- A new study finds that the Omicron variant shares genetic code with the virus that causes the common cold.
