Open AccessCOVID‐19 severity from Omicron and Delta SARS‐CoV‐2 variants
Author(s) -
Wrenn Jesse O.,
Pakala Suman B.,
Vestal Grant,
Shilts Meghan H.,
Brown Hunter M.,
Bowen Sara M.,
Strickland Britton A.,
Williams Timothy,
Mallal Simon A.,
Jones Ian D.,
Schmitz Jonathan E.,
Self Wesley H.,
Das Suman R.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
influenza and other respiratory viruses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.743
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1750-2659
pISSN - 1750-2640
DOI - 10.1111/irv.12982
Subject(s) - covid-19 , delta , medicine , biology , virology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , engineering , aerospace engineering
The Omicron variant of SARS‐CoV‐2 achieved worldwide dominance in late 2021. Early work suggests that infections caused by the Omicron variant may be less severe than those caused by the Delta variant. We sought to compare clinical outcomes of infections caused by these two strains, confirmed by whole genome sequencing, over a short period of time, from respiratory samples collected from SARS‐CoV‐2 positive patients at a large medical center. We found that infections caused by the Omicron variant caused significantly less morbidity, including admission to the hospital and requirement for oxygen supplementation, and significantly less mortality than those caused by the Delta variant.