Omicron Makes Appearance As Wisconsin Deals With Delta: UW Lab

Milwaukee WI

15 December, 2021

12:32 PM

Description

WISCONSIN — The omicron coronavirus variant makes up less than one percent of current Wisconsin COVID-19 cases, but the delta variant still overwhelms the state, a lab report from University of Wisconsin - Madison indicates. There were a total of 5 omicron variant cases, while there were 20,467 delta variant cases in the state in the last 30 days, data from the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene showed. Omicron makes 0.02 percent of Wisconsin cases so far. It makes up 2 percent of cases in the region of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. A total of 3 percent of COVID-19 cases across the United States are traced to the omicron variant. In other parts of the country, the highly contagious variant represents 13 percent of cases in New York and New Jersey, CDC data shows. There's a potential silver lining as the omicron variant increasingly appears to have less severe cases, Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, told the "Today Show." But she said there's still reason for concern. Omicron cases have been detected in 33 states and Walensky said the number of states indicates that it's quickly becoming the predominant strain as more cases emerge. While omicron has its foot in the door, the Midwest is still struggling with the burden of delta variant cases. A hospital in Green Bay had to turn away nearly 30 patients due as COVID-19 patients filled up hospital beds, and hospitals in Ohio and Minnesota had to delay care for similar reasons. The first omicron case in Wisconsin was found on Dec. 4 in Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said.