The New York Times is reporting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lowered the estimated rates of omicron cases.
The CDC said omicron is about 59% of all COVID-19 cases for the week ending Dec. 25, The Associated Press reported.
The delta variant accounted for 41% of cases the CDC reported, according to NY1.
You can see the rates of infections on the CDC’s website.
The previous estimate was about 73% for the week ending Dec. 18, the AP reported on Dec. 20.
The CDC said omicron was in reality about 23% of cases during that period, meaning that the delta variant was still the dominant strain that week, the Times reported.
The CDC attributed the change in the data to the collection of additional data, the AP reported.
Omicron can only be confirmed by genetic sequencing.
The CDC projects infection rates using “confidence intervals,” The New York Times reported.
“The 73% got a lot more attention than the confidence intervals, and I think this is one example among many where scientists are trying to project an air of confidence about what is going to happen,” University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist, David O’Connor, told the Times.
O’Connor said the 73% “seemed high” to him and that the number was determined based on a “relatively small number of sequences.”
More coronavirus pandemic coverage:
>> Coronavirus: How long between exposure to the virus and the start of symptoms?
>> How to not let coronavirus pandemic fatigue set in, battle back if it does
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