The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised the proportion of cases of the Omicron variant from the week ending on December 18 down to 22.5%. The number was originally at 73%, but the agency said that additional testing data from that time period reduced the percentage of cases of the new highly transmissible variant.
"There was a wide predictive interval posted in last week's chart, in part because of the speed at which omicron was increasing. We had more data come in from that timeframe, and there was a reduced proportion of omicron. It's important to note that we're still seeing a steady increase in the proportion of omicron," a CDC spokeswoman said.
The CDC said that the Omicron variant is still the dominant strain in the United States, accounting for 58.6% of all cases in the week ending on December 25. The Delta variant made up 41.1% of all COVID cases during that timeframe. The Omicron variant is driving a surge in cases in New York, New Jersey, and many southern states, where it makes up more than 85% of total cases.