HOUSTON — Just over a week before Christmas, experts are saying that omicron is about to surge.
"I always said this was a three-dose vaccine. I just didn’t imagine we would get this variant like omicron," Dr. Peter Hotez said.
Dr. Hotez, who is the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says the variant is more transmissible than delta.
“I hate to be the Dr. Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but around Christmas time we should see omicron really a huge issue and that means we’re going to start seeing a big uptick in hospitalizations here in our Texas Medical Center," he said.
Dr. Wesley Long from Houston Methodist tweeted out today that omicron is doubling every 2-3 days among their patients.
“45% of our symptomatic patients now have the omicron variant, said Dr. Long, who's the Medical Director of Microbiology.
He says with it's explosive growth, it's on track to overtake the delta variant to make up 100% of the hospital's COVID cases.
“Omicron is kind of on pace to replace delta in about a month’s time," Dr. Long said.
Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated and having his booster. He says he's feeling "mild" symptoms.
Experts saying being fully vaccinated and having the booster is the best way to stay as protected as possible.
“There’s no question if you want to protect yourself against omicron, you need to get the boost and that will help a lot," Hotez says.
And with Christmas and the new year approaching, the message remains the same.
“Vaccinate… vaccinate… or vaccinate. But make sure you vaccinate," Hotez says.
