Omicron makes up 95% of all new US cases: CDC

Gabrielle Masson for Becker’s Hospital Review

The omicron variant accounted for an estimated 95.4 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. for the week ending Jan. 1, according to CDC data.

Just the previous week, the variant accounted for an estimated 58.6 percent of COVID-19 cases. That count was revised from an initial CDC estimate that projected omicron made up 73.2 percent of new infections for the week ending Dec. 18. CDC officials said the disparity occured because of the rapid rate at which the omicron variant spreads, and the agency revised its variant proportion model Dec. 25, narrowing its confidence range of omicron’s prevalence.

The CDC has started providing weekly omicron prevalence estimates every Tuesday.

The omicron variant, which is thought to be more transmissible than past variants, has fueled upticks in case counts worldwide and nationally. On Jan. 3, the U.S. shattered global records, reporting over a million new daily COVID-19 cases.