The COVID-19 variant, Omicron, was first found in Botswana, Southern Africa by Botswana Harvard AIDS institute partnership on November 19th of 2021. As reported by NBC news, Dr. Katherine Poehling, an infectious disease specialist and vaccinologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina, said that the symptoms of this variant are the following: Coughing, fatigue or tiredness, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, and mild headaches. If someone gets infected by the Omicron variant, a person develops symptoms more rapidly compared to the original COVID-19.

Based on information published by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov as of December 20, 2021, Omicron has been detected in many states and territories and is quickly increasing the percentage of COVID-19 cases it is causing. The Omicron variant likely will spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown. This is due to how it was found very recently. Scientists are trying to find out how Omicron compares to the other Covid variant in terms of how quickly it spreads.

Due to the mysteriousness of this new variant, politicians are still not sure what to do about it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is aiming to keep schools open despite the new variant. According to the New York Times, Omicron is projected to be the cause of around 15 million cases by January 30th. 

Since Omicron will spread rapidly throughout the world there might be another worldwide quarantine since the infection rate might be faster than the Delta variant. This may cause many  states to shut down again. According to the Associated Press President Joe Biden stated to double free COVID testing and make quality N95 masks to combat the Omicron variant in the coming days. “The best mask is the one that you will wear and the one you can keep on all day long, that you can tolerate in public indoor settings,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated.