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The country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said a growing body of evidence suggests the Omicron variant of the coronavirus causes less serious illness than its predecessors, but cautioned against complacency, saying the variant is spreading around the world at lightning speed. The United States will likely lead to a dangerous increase in hospitalizations among the unvaccinated and could overwhelm the nation’s health systems.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Dr. Recent data from Scotland, England and South Africa fills in the fragmentary portrait of Omicron, which has spread across much of the world and outstripped the Delta variant in the United States, Fauci said. states in the past month since it was first described by scientists in South Africa.

Dr. “While we are pleased with the evidence from multiple countries – there seems to be a lesser degree of seriousness – we must be careful not to be complacent about it,” Fauci said. there were still tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans. “When you have a virus that is extraordinarily effective at reaching people and infecting them like Omicron, those are the most vulnerable.”

Last week, scientists University of Edinburgh He reported that in Scotland, people infected with Omicron were almost 60 percent less likely to be hospitalized than those infected with Delta. another study Imperial College London It found that people infected by Omicron were 15 to 20 percent less likely to go to the emergency room with severe symptoms and 40 percent less likely to be hospitalized.

Despite these encouraging data, Dr. Fauci said the country’s low vaccination rate—only 62 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated—will likely undermine the benefits of Omicron’s reduced virulence. “When you have such a high volume of new infections, it can override any real reduction in severity,” he said.

About 71,000 Americans are now hospitalized with Covid-19, up 10 percent from the previous week, but still well below previous peaks.

However, as hospitals struggle with staff shortages fueled by burnout and early retirement, the nation’s medical infrastructure has been dangerously worn out by the pandemic for two years. Experts are also worried about an impending wave of Omicron infections that could disable countless nurses and doctors.

Despite an alarming increase in cases in the United States – the average of new daily cases for seven days exceeded 197,000, a 65 percent increase in the past 14 days – government data shows that vaccination is still a strong protector against serious illness. Unvaccinated people are five times more likely to test positive and 14 times more likely to die from Covid than vaccinated patients. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.