Less than three weeks after the Omicron variant was first detected in a patient in the U.S., it has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
That didn’t take very long. Less than three weeks after the Omicron variant was first detected in a patient in the United States, it has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control. On Monday, the CDC reported that the variant’s share of infections over the past week had jumped almost sixfold, making up 73 percent of new infections as of December 18. In New York — where the pervasive spread of Omicron and anxiety over holiday plans have made hours-long waits at COVID testing facilities standard — the prevalence of the variant is closer to 90 percent of new infections, per the CDC.
