“The capacity for superspreading events is really extraordinary”

A Nov. 26 Christmas party in Oslo was an eye-opener on the contagiousness of the Omicron variant. Of 111 people who attended the party, 80 came down with COVID-19, according to a Norwegian Institute of Public Health report that concludes the variant is the most likely culprit. More than 60 other people who ate at the same restaurant that evening also got sick.

“The capacity for superspreading events is really extraordinary,” said Emory University biostatistician Natalie Dean…

“We are seeing patterns overseas, in the UK, in Norway, that point squarely to things looking like they will get worse,” said Dean. Omicron cases appear to roughly double every two days, according to the CDC (the Delta variant at this stage in its first advent, in June, doubled once every two weeks). The United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency predicts that Omicron cases will reach parity there with Delta cases by the middle of the month, as a result. More than 73% of cases in London are now caused by the new variant.