“Countries that have average age on the younger side and generally healthier populations would be expected to do better in terms of hospitalizations and deaths,” Irwin Redlener, the founding director of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, told The Daily Beast.

“The other big question,” he added, “is vaccination rates.” Highly vaxxed and younger countries seem to be mostly shrugging off Omicron. But under-vaxxed countries—especially ones with older populations–could be in for a difficult few months as the new variant runs its course…

There’s been some decoupling in the United States, but nowhere near as much as in Singapore and South Africa. Around 1,700 Americans are dying every day—slightly fewer than died every day at the peak of the Delta wave in the fall.

America’s not alone. Brazil, median age 34, has fully vaccinated around two-thirds of its 212 million people and boosted 15 percent, making it roughly analogous to the United States in those regards.