U.S. Faces Wave of Omicron Deaths in Coming Weeks, Forecasts Say

Jan. 19, 2022 -- COVID-19 deaths from the Omicron variant are climbing and volition apt summation rapidly successful the upcoming weeks, according to caller forecasts.

Based connected nationalist forecasts, 50,000 to 300,000 much Americans could dice by the clip the existent question subsides successful March.

“A batch of radical are inactive going to dice due to the fact that of however transmissible Omicron has been,” Jason Salemi, PhD, an epidemiologist astatine the University of South Florida, told The Associated Press.

“It, unfortunately, is going to get worse earlier it gets better,” helium said.

The 7-day mean for regular caller COVID-19 deaths has been expanding since mid-November, reaching astir 1,900 connected Tuesday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. What’s more, COVID-19 deaths began rising among nursing location residents astir 2 weeks ago, the AP reported.

Although the Omicron variant appears to origin milder disease, the precocious fig of infections has led to much hospitalizations. If the higher extremity of the nationalist forecast happens, the full fig of U.S. COVID-19 deaths could surpass 1 cardinal by aboriginal spring.

“Overall, you’re going to spot much sick people, adjacent if you arsenic an idiosyncratic person a little accidental of being sick,” Katriona Shea, PhD, an epidemiologist astatine Pennsylvania State University, told the AP.

Shea co-leads a squad that assembles pandemic models done the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub and shares the projections with the White House. The forecast includes models from 11 universities crossed the country.

The upcoming question of Omicron deaths volition highest successful aboriginal February, she said, and play deaths could transcend the highest from the Delta variant and the erstwhile highest seen successful January 2021.

The combined models task 1.5 cardinal COVID-19 hospitalizations and 191,000 COVID-19 deaths from mid-December done mid-March. But owed to uncertainty successful the models, the deaths from the Omicron question could scope from 58,000 to 305,000.