Where in the US has Omicron been confirmed? Where are cases increasing the fastest?

Since the identification of the Omicron variant was made public by the World Health Organization (WHO) cases have begun to rise steadily in the United States. Very little has been confirmed about the variant, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that it “ likely will spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown.”

Public health experts have noted that preliminary data suggest that vaccines still protect against the new strain. During a press conference with the White House COVID-⁠19 Response Team, Jeff Zients, the group's leader, sent a stark warning to those who have not been vaccinated saying that they are “looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Wallensky said that deaths around the country were standing at a “seven-day average of daily deaths is at about 1,200 per day [...] an increase of over 8 percent from the prior week.”

Cases in the United States have increased the most in Hawaii, where an almost two hundred percent increase in the number of new cases was recorded between 10 and 17 December. Cases in Florida (154 percent), Washington DC (98 percent), and Louisiana (50 percent) have also increased rapidly. All these states and DC have recorded cases of the Omicron variant.

Which states have confirmed a case of the Omicron variant?

However, twenty-six states have not recorded increases in cases over the last week. Only eleven states have recorded decreases in hospitalizations. Hospitalizations in Connecticut, Washington DC, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and North Carolina have all seen increases in new covid-19 patients since early December over fifty percent.

New York confirmed more cases of covid-19 on 16 December than at any point during the pandemic. Luckily, with a large percentage of the population vaccinated, not nearly as many people are being hospitalized. In the last week, confirmed cases are up more than 110 percent in the Big Apple.

Colleges and Universities

Some institutions of higher education have shut down their campus early, sending students home after cases quickly began to rise. Cornell University saw more than four hundred students test positive in two days and in response moved their final exam period online. Other institutions are requiring that eligible students receive a booster shot before returning from the spring semester.