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The Omicron variant appears to result in less severe COVID-19 than seen during previous periods of high coronavirus transmission including the Delta wave, with shorter hospital stays, less need for intensive care and fewer deaths, according to a new U.S. study. However, the fast-spreading Omicron variant has led to record numbers of infections and hospitalizations, straining the U.S. healthcare system. (Maddipatla and Leo, 1/25)

Federal health officials reported Tuesday that the omicron variant caused less severe illness in hospitalized patients than earlier virus lineages, even though its explosive transmissibility has caused far more infections and led to more than 2,200 deaths a day on average, one of the highest tolls since early last year. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that people hospitalized with the omicron variant had shorter stays and less frequent admission to intensive care compared with those hospitalized with other coronavirus variants. (Sun, 1/25)

Since mid-November, more than three dozen countries have uploaded nearly 15,000 genetic sequences of BA.2 to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data. As of Tuesday morning, 96 of those sequenced cases came from the U.S. “Thus far, we haven’t seen it start to gain ground” in the U.S., said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas, which has identified three cases of BA.2. (Ungar, 1/25)

Yes, a new variant of omicron is spreading on at least four continents. But, no, it shouldn't be a cause for panic, Massachusetts scientists said Tuesday. Unlike two years ago when everyone was first learning about COVID-19, there are now many tools to combat the disease, and, like its cousin, omicron BA.2 is expected to remain relatively mild. "I don't think it's going to cause the degree of chaos and disruption, morbidity and mortality that BA.1 did," said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "I'm cautiously optimistic that we're going to continue to move to a better place and, hopefully, one where each new variant on the horizon isn't news." (Weintraub, 1/25)

The next Covid-19 variant that will rise to world attention will be more contagious than omicron, but the real question scientists need to answer is whether or not it will be more deadly, World Health Organization officials said Tuesday. Roughly 21 million Covid cases were reported to the WHO over the last week, setting a new global record for weekly cases from the rapidly spreading omicron variant, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said during a livestreamed Q&A across the group’s social media channels. While omicron appears to be less virulent than previous strains of the virus, the sheer volume of cases is crushing hospital systems worldwide. (Kopecki, 1/25)

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that a vaccine specifically targeting the omicron variant of the coronavirus would be "prudent." Fauci said it "makes sense to think in terms of at least having ready an omicron specific boost." "We may not need it ... but I think it’s prudent to at least prepare for the possibility that this may be a persistent variant that we may have to face – even if it’s at a very low level," Fauci told MSNBC. (Musto, 1/25)