Every person on earth will have been exposed to the Omicron variant within the next month.
(Obviously exceptions such as people living in bubbles will exist)
Within 3 weeks the Omicron variant displaced the Delta variant. 97% cases are now Omicron and is FAR less severe than Delta ESPECIALLY for those that have been vaccinated and/or previously infected.
If it continues here the same way it did where it started (South Africa) or Great Britain many many more people will be infected but the number of hospitalizations will stay consistent and fewer on oxygen and ventilators.
If we look at number of infections (actually numbers based on positive tests) that number will be magnitudes higher than Delta, and then extrapolate that to include those that don’t test because they are asymptomatic or the symptoms never get serious enough to get a test, then the numbers are going to look like an endemic type event and that hundreds of millions of Americans will be infected in the next three weeks.
But every day science is proving that the Omicron variant is far more contagious and simultaneously far less severe than Delta.
This may be the variant that gets us back to normal, and we accept it’s risk as being like a cold or flu.
Again, being vaccinated is something that really reduces the severity. Those with comorbitities or other serious health risks “should” get vaccinated for their own protection.