Larger extra mortality present in Massachusetts throughout Omicron interval than the Delta interval

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to extra deaths -; a better variety of fatalities than could be anticipated over a given interval. A brand new examine compares extra deaths in the course of the pandemic interval when the Delta variant dominated (June 28, 2021-December 5, 2021), in the course of the transition from Delta to the Omicron variant (December 6-26, 2021) and when Omicron dominated (December 27, 2021-February 20, 2022) in Massachusetts. Investigators discovered that extra deaths had been larger in the course of the 8-week Omicron interval in comparison with the 23-week Delta interval (2,294 deaths versus 1,975).

By way of extra dying, we discovered that Omicron was really a lot worse for Massachusetts than Delta. Others have reported that the Omicron variant could trigger milder COVID-19. Assuming that is the case, what we’re seeing right here could replicate simply how way more infectious Omicron has been. This might imply that extremely contagious variants, even when they trigger comparatively milder sickness, can nonetheless result in substantial extra mortality, even in a extremely vaccinated inhabitants.”

Jeremy Faust, MD, Division of Emergency Medication, Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital