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The Delta variant of COVID-19 is no longer the dominant cause of infections in the US. Now, just weeks after it was identified in South Africa—and subsequently named a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization (WHO)—Omicron accounts for the majority of COVID-19 porn cases in the US.
As Omicron continues to sweep through the US (and the world), scientists are working to uncover what makes this variant different than previous variants. Information is coming together slowly—Omicron, for example, is less likely to cause severe illness, but it also spreads easier, even among the vaccinated population—but there are still many things we don't yet know, which is why it's more important than ever to maintain (or ramp up) COVID-19 safety precautions.
Here, with the help of infectious disease experts and research, we explain what is known about how the Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19 compare—and what that means for your health.
Omicron vs. Delta: How the 2 COVID Variants Compare
ALEX SANDOVAL
Symptoms
First: Keep in mind that whether we're talking about Delta or Omicron (or any other variants of COVID-19), it's still the same SARS-CoV-2 virus—and that means while certain symptoms may appear more prominent or noticeable in one strain versus the other, the symptoms of all COVID-19 variants will be similar, the CDC says.
To reiterate, the CDC says people with COVID-19 can show a wide range of symptoms, spanning from mild to severe illness. Though it's not an exhaustive list, the following symptoms that are the most common with COVID-19 in general include:
Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
There's no official guidance on which symptoms are more prevalent with certain strains of the virus, but there have been a handful of anecdotal reports on symptoms with both variants.
The Delta variant, for instance, seemed to bring on more headaches, sore throats, and runny noses, Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at King's College London who helps lead the ZOE COVID Study, told The New York Times in June. Meanwhile, fever, cough, and loss of smell were reported less often.
Omicron, too, has seemingly brought on more cold-like symptoms: According to data collected again by the ZOE COVID Study—which requires people to report their disease symptoms in an app—the top five symptoms associated with confirmed or suspected cases of the Omicron variant include: runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and sore throat. Also like Delta, people with Omicron less commonly reported fever, cough, or loss of smell or taste. Overall, the ZOE COVID Study analysis found "no clear difference in the symptom profile of Delta and Omicron."
Can You Get Omicron and Delta COVID-19 Variants at the Same Time? Yes, But It's Rare—Here's What to Know
Severity
Though the symptom profile isn't too drastically different between the Delta and Omicron COVID-19 variants, data shows that Omicron appears to be milder than Delta. The most robust information pointing to the decreased severity of Omicron comes from a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) using data from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health care system. Though the study was published on the preprint server medRxiv—and thus, hasn't been peer-reviewed—CDC director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, tweeted out the findings on January 12.
The study looked at data from 69,279 patients—52,297 with the Omicron variant, 16,982 with the Delta variant—between November 30, 2021, and January 1, 2022. When comparing the two variants, the study found that Omicron cases resulted in 53% less risk of hospitalization, 74% less risk of ICU admission, and 91% less risk of death. The study also found that none of the patients with Omicron required mechanical ventilation.
Other preliminary evidence from researchers at Case Western Reserve University showed similar findings: Data from 577,938 first-time COVID-19 patients—14,054 who became ill when the Omicron variant emerged and 563,884 who became ill during the Delta variant's predominance—found that the infections during the Omicron variant were "significantly less severe" than those during the Delta variant.
"The symptoms are slightly less intense, and it's a milder disease that results in less hospitalization and death than Delta," Robert Murphy, MD, a professor of infectious diseases and executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Health.
As Omicron continues to sweep through the US (and the world), scientists are working to uncover what makes this variant different than previous variants. Information is coming together slowly—Omicron, for example, is less likely to cause severe illness, but it also spreads easier, even among the vaccinated population—but there are still many things we don't yet know, which is why it's more important than ever to maintain (or ramp up) COVID-19 safety precautions.
Here, with the help of infectious disease experts and research, we explain what is known about how the Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19 compare—and what that means for your health.
Omicron vs. Delta: How the 2 COVID Variants Compare
ALEX SANDOVAL
Symptoms
First: Keep in mind that whether we're talking about Delta or Omicron (or any other variants of COVID-19), it's still the same SARS-CoV-2 virus—and that means while certain symptoms may appear more prominent or noticeable in one strain versus the other, the symptoms of all COVID-19 variants will be similar, the CDC says.
To reiterate, the CDC says people with COVID-19 can show a wide range of symptoms, spanning from mild to severe illness. Though it's not an exhaustive list, the following symptoms that are the most common with COVID-19 in general include:
Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
There's no official guidance on which symptoms are more prevalent with certain strains of the virus, but there have been a handful of anecdotal reports on symptoms with both variants.
The Delta variant, for instance, seemed to bring on more headaches, sore throats, and runny noses, Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at King's College London who helps lead the ZOE COVID Study, told The New York Times in June. Meanwhile, fever, cough, and loss of smell were reported less often.
Omicron, too, has seemingly brought on more cold-like symptoms: According to data collected again by the ZOE COVID Study—which requires people to report their disease symptoms in an app—the top five symptoms associated with confirmed or suspected cases of the Omicron variant include: runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and sore throat. Also like Delta, people with Omicron less commonly reported fever, cough, or loss of smell or taste. Overall, the ZOE COVID Study analysis found "no clear difference in the symptom profile of Delta and Omicron."
Can You Get Omicron and Delta COVID-19 Variants at the Same Time? Yes, But It's Rare—Here's What to Know
Severity
Though the symptom profile isn't too drastically different between the Delta and Omicron COVID-19 variants, data shows that Omicron appears to be milder than Delta. The most robust information pointing to the decreased severity of Omicron comes from a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) using data from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health care system. Though the study was published on the preprint server medRxiv—and thus, hasn't been peer-reviewed—CDC director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, tweeted out the findings on January 12.
The study looked at data from 69,279 patients—52,297 with the Omicron variant, 16,982 with the Delta variant—between November 30, 2021, and January 1, 2022. When comparing the two variants, the study found that Omicron cases resulted in 53% less risk of hospitalization, 74% less risk of ICU admission, and 91% less risk of death. The study also found that none of the patients with Omicron required mechanical ventilation.
Other preliminary evidence from researchers at Case Western Reserve University showed similar findings: Data from 577,938 first-time COVID-19 patients—14,054 who became ill when the Omicron variant emerged and 563,884 who became ill during the Delta variant's predominance—found that the infections during the Omicron variant were "significantly less severe" than those during the Delta variant.
"The symptoms are slightly less intense, and it's a milder disease that results in less hospitalization and death than Delta," Robert Murphy, MD, a professor of infectious diseases and executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Health.
