Higher excess mortality found in Massachusetts during Omicron period than the Delta period

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to excess deaths -; the next variety of fatalities than can be anticipated over a given period. A brand new research compares excess deaths during the pandemic period when the Delta variant dominated (June 28, 2021-December 5, 2021), during the transition from Delta to the Omicron variant (December 6-26, 2021) and when Omicron dominated (December 27, 2021-February 20, 2022) in Massachusetts. Investigators found that excess deaths have been larger during the 8-week Omicron period in comparison with the 23-week Delta period (2,294 deaths versus 1,975).

When it comes to excess loss of life, we found that Omicron was really a lot worse for Massachusetts than Delta. Others have reported that the Omicron variant might trigger milder COVID-19. Assuming that is the case, what we’re seeing right here might mirror simply how way more infectious Omicron has been. This might imply that extremely contagious variants, even when they trigger comparatively milder sickness, can nonetheless result in substantial excess mortality, even in a extremely vaccinated inhabitants.”

Jeremy Faust, MD, Division of Emergency Drugs, Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital