Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing titled Next Steps: The Road Ahead for the COVID-19 Response, in Dirksen Building on Thursday, November 4, 2021.
The omicron coronaviruses variant has been detected in at least 15 states and the number is expected to rise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director.
We are following several dozen cases closely. Walensky said on "This Week" that the number of probable cases is likely to rise.
The variant has several changes to the spike protein that allow the virus to enter the body, and some of those changes could lead to increased resistance and transmissibility. The effectiveness of current Covid-19 vaccines is still being studied by scientists.
The U.S. reported its first omicron case on December 1. Some patients had recently traveled to southern Africa, but others had no travel history. That suggests that community transmission is happening.
The travel restrictions were put in place to prevent the virus from seeding in the U.S.
Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, said on CNN that he hopes that ban can be lifted in a reasonable period of time.
The majority of cases in the U.S. are still caused by the delta variant.
99% of the cases in the United States are the delta variant, according to Walensky.
