Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The new, highly mutated omicron Covid-19 variant now accounts for an estimated 13% of all cases in New York and New Jersey, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The variant, which was first detected in southern Africa about a month ago, has spread to 36 states and 75 countries, accounting for roughly 3% of all cases across the U.S., CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a White House Covid-19 briefing Wednesday.
“We expect the proportion of omicron cases here in the United States to continue to grow in the coming weeks,” she said.