Even as scientists race to understand more about the omicron variant and the threat it poses, one fact is abundantly clear: It spreads quickly everywhere it lands.
In South Africa, omicron spread twice as fast as the highly infectious delta variant. In Britain, officials have estimated that 200,000 people are becoming infected with omicron every day. In Denmark, omicron cases are doubling roughly every two days.
And early data from the United States suggest that Americans will not be spared. "No part of the country will be safe from omicron,” said Shweta Bansal, a disease ecologist at Georgetown University.