Even though a growing body of evidence suggests that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was causing less serious illness than its predecessors, the variant’s lightning-speed spread across the US would likely lead to a perilous spike in hospitalizations, warned Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.  

Caution against complacency, Dr. Fauci said that the rapid spread of the new variant could overwhelm the US health systems and the nation’s low vaccination rate dilutes the benefits of Omicron’s reduced virulence. Recent data out of Scotland, England and South Africa has been filling in the fragmentary portrait of Omicron, which has spread across much of the world and overtaken the Delta variant in the US in the month since it was first identified by scientists in South Africa, he said while addressing the public at ABC’s ‘The Week’ programme on Sunday.