Three separate teams of scientists on two continents have found that omicron infections more often result in mild illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus, offering hope that the current surge may not be quite as catastrophic as feared despite skyrocketing caseloads.
The researchers examined omicron’s course through populations in South Africa, Scotland and England. The results in each setting, while preliminary, all suggested that people infected with the variant were less likely to be hospitalized.
“Given that this is everywhere, and given that it’s going to be so transmissible, anything that would lower severity is going to be better,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta.
Since the discovery of the omicron variant in southern Africa in November, scientists have struggled to learn whether it causes more severe illness compared with other variants — and if so, in whom.
The new research suggests that the variant may have biological features that make it somewhat less dangerous than delta, the variant that dominated the world from summer till now.
But omicron’s lowered risk of hospitalization in all three countries also appears to be due in large part to immunity in those populations. Many of the infected already had protection against severe disease, either because of previous infections or vaccinations.
While the new research is heartening, experts warn that the surge coming to many countries still may flood hospitals with omicron cases, simply because the variant spreads so much more easily than previous versions of the coronavirus.
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