As the omicron variant batters Europe with exponentially skyrocketing COVID-19 cases, public health experts warn that the U.S. could be barreling down the same path and face record waves of infections in the coming days and weeks.
Due to the strain’s high transmissibility, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci predicted omicron will be the dominant variant in the U.S. in “a few weeks” with the potential to overwhelm hospital systems already strained by delta cases.
With a lot still unknown about the new variant of concern, including how severe its disease is, scientists are awaiting more data on the strain and international surges to better anticipate how hard omicron will hit the U.S.
