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 can seemingly improve shortly within the upcoming weeks, in keeping with new forecasts.

Based on nationwide forecasts, 50,000 to 300,000 extra Americans may die by the point the present wave subsides in March.

“A lot of people are still going to die because of how transmissible Omicron has been,” Jason Salemi, PhD, an epidemiologist on the University of South Florida, informed The Associated Press.

“It, unfortunately, is going to get worse before it gets better,” he mentioned.

The 7-day common for each day new COVID-19 deaths has been rising since mid-November, reaching almost 1,900 on Tuesday, in keeping with the most recent knowledge from Johns Hopkins University. What’s extra, COVID-19 deaths started rising amongst nursing residence residents about 2 weeks in the past, the AP reported.

Although the Omicron variant seems to trigger milder illness, the excessive variety of infections has led to extra hospitalizations. If the upper finish of the nationwide forecast occurs, the overall variety of U.S. COVID-19 deaths may surpass 1 million by early spring.

“Overall, you’re going to see more sick people, even if you as an individual have a lower chance of being sick,” Katriona Shea, PhD, an epidemiologist at Pennsylvania State University, informed the AP.

Shea co-leads a crew that assembles pandemic fashions by way of the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub and shares the projections with the White House. The forecast consists of fashions from 11 universities throughout the nation.

The upcoming wave of Omicron deaths will peak in early February, she mentioned, and weekly deaths may exceed the height from the Delta variant and the earlier peak seen in January 2021.

The mixed fashions venture 1.5 million COVID-19 hospitalizations and 191,000 COVID-19 deaths from mid-December by way of mid-March. But because of uncertainty within the fashions, the deaths from the Omicron wave may vary from 58,000 to 305,000.