Omicron variant now the most dominant COVID strain in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The number of positive COVID cases are on the rise all throughout the state - and a big reason why is the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

In fact, it has now surpassed Delta as the most dominant variant in Mississippi.

Get this, numbers from the State Department of Health show roughly 62 percent of cases are Omicron, compared to the roughly 38 percent of cases being Delta.

Medical experts say the reason the variant is so prevalent is because of how contagious it is and its ability to invade our immune system.

But just how long will this variant continue to sweep through the state? Here’s what one doctor has to say about that:

”You certainly hope that by the end of January we will have peaked, though there are estimates from some people that it could go a little bit longer than that,” he said. “We hope it’s not going to carry over into a larger time frame, because everyone will have been infected if it goes on too long.”

Last week, we showed you the long lines outside health care clinics where people were waiting to get a COVID test.

According to an analysis from the State Department of Health, roughly 154-thousand COVID tests were given out last week.

Copyright 2022 WLBT. All rights reserved.