Omicron 'Nearly All' COVID Cases In NYC, Study Finds

NEW YORK CITY — It's official: the omicron coronavirus variant burned like an uncontrolled wildfire through New York City.

Omicron took just five weeks to become the dominant variant in the city — and accounted for "nearly all" COVID-19 cases tested by Christmas, according to a new city health department study.

"For comparison, the delta variant took 20 weeks to become the dominant variant," it states.

Much of what the study details confirms what New Yorkers already knew — the omicron variant fueled a staggering, near-vertical trajectory in COVID-19 cases.

The variant, despite causing a smaller proportion of severe illness, also still caused an increase in the total number of hospitalizations.

Hospitalizations by the end of 2021 exceeded the previous winter's surge, according to the study.

And it appears vaccination against COVID-19 — or not — proved a decisive factor in most hospitalizations.

"While the total number of hospitalizations increased substantially during the omicron surge due to very high total cases, rates of hospitalization have been dramatically higher among the
unvaccinated, and proportion of hospitalizations have been higher among older adults and Black/African American New Yorkers," the study states.

About half of all patients in the city's hospitals have COVID-19, according to the study.

"Despite stable total numbers of hospitalized patients, staffing shortages have been felt widely during the omicron wave
across the health care sector in NYC," the study states.

Read the full study here.