According to a recent analysis from the University of Texas, Omicron cases could peak between mid-January and the first week of February, depending on the variant's ability to transmit or elude immunity in comparison to Delta.
COVID-19 cases might reach between 230,000 and 550,000 per day during the winter peak, scientists predict, citing new models.
Almost as rapidly as the Omicron strain has spread throughout the United States, some researchers forecast its decrease. According to the most recent modeling, the Omicron outbreak in the country may last no more than three months.
Omicron's great transmissibility means that, despite its lower hospitalization risk, it remains a serious hazard. Additionally, a separate study conducted in Scotland discovered that Omicron is related with a proportionately lower rate of hospitalization.
According to a study conducted in England by experts at Imperial College London, people infected with Omicron appear to be 15% to 20% less likely to be hospitalized than those infected with Delta.
Additionally, Omicron cases are 40% to 45% less likely to require hospitalization for a night or more, the researchers discovered.
U.S. health authorities have reported an average of around 170,000 daily COVID-19 infections lately, as shown by the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Daily incidences of the virus may have peaked in March, the study found, despite the fact that Omicron remained widespread.
A model developed by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows infections may peak around January 27 at more than 2.8 million cases per day, then reduce to less than 700,000 daily infections by April.
During an appearance with "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that when something rises this quickly, "you often see it drop immediately back down."
The researchers added that this tendency is not unexpected. A highly transmissible virus spreads swiftly across a population until it runs out of people to sicken, and Omicron may be the most transmissible variant ever to emerge.
Omicron appears to have passed its peak in South Africa, which reported it to the World Health Organization about a month after scientists discovered it.
Daily COVID-19 infections After reaching a record high of about 38,000 cases on December 12, the number of cases in South Africa has dropped by about a fifth on average over the last week.
When new outbreaks appear, "they start off with a boom," according to David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"However, this does not imply that things will continue in this manner permanently," he continued.
