Before the Thanksgiving holiday in Seattle, Washington, U.S. November 24, 2021, travelers check a departures list at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport ticketing level. REUTERS Lindsey Wasson File Photo File Photo
WASHINGTON, Dec 5, Reuters - The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread to about one-third of U.S. states, but the Delta version is the majority of COVID 19 infections as cases increase nationwide, U.S. health officials said on Sunday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, told CNN that it did not look like there was a great degree of severity to it, but he added that more research is needed because it was too early to draw definitive conclusions.
Fauci, the chief medical adviser of U.S. President Joe Biden, said he hoped that the United States would lift its ban on travelers from southern African countries in a reasonable period. South African government has complained that it is being punished instead of applauded for discovering the new variant and informing international health officials.
Fauci, in an interview on CNN's State of the Union, praised South Africa for its transparency and said the U.S. travel ban was imposed at a time when we were really in the dark and needed time to study the variant.
According to a Reuters tally, 16 U.S. states have reported Omicron cases: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Many of the cases were among fully vaccinated individuals with mild symptoms, although the booster shot status of some patients was not reported.
Despite a number of Omicron cases, the Delta variant still accounts for 99.9% of new COVID cases in the United States, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who spoke to ABC News in an interview.
She said that the number is likely to rise as we are hearing more and more probable cases.
The US lost nearly 1,300 lives to COVID each day, according to a Reuters tally of 119,000 new cases a day over the last seven days.
Louisiana has one Omicron case from an individual who traveled within the United States, according to the health department on Sunday.
On Saturday, a Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N cruise ship set to dock in New Orleans with more than 3,000 passengers found 10 cases of COVID 19 on board. Passengers on the Norwegian Breakaway stopped in Honduras and Mexico, would be tested and given the CDC's post-exposure and quarantine guidelines. Governors of two other states with reported Omicron cases - Connecticut and Colorado - said they hoped their higher than average vaccination rates would blunt the impact.
Colorado's Jared Polis told ABC we want to see how well the vaccines hold up.
As the U.S. Omicron cases emerge, COVID 19 vaccine makers aim to quickly tweak their shots to target the variant and U.S. regulators have vowed speedy reviews, but that could take months.
Walensky said that FDA Food and Drug Administration will move quickly and CDC will move quickly.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O wants to get U.S. approval of an updated vaccine as soon as March, but company officials said it will take time to increase output. Noubar Afeyan, Chairman and Moderna Co-founder, told CNN it would take another seven to 10 days to gather key data. He said that it would take a good 60 to 100 days to deploy an Omicron-specific shot, although other options like a higher dose of the current booster are being explored.
U.S. government officials are working with Pfizer Inc PFE.N and Johnson Johnson JNJ.N on updated shots, while Pfizer and Merck Co Inc MRK.N are pursuing COVID 19 pill treatments.