We've been told for a few weeks now that the omicron COVID variant is producing milder illnesses in the people unlucky enough to catch it--and indeed, there have even been some very preliminary studies backing up that notion. But what if we had it all wrong? We're starting to see an increase in COVID deaths here in L-A County. Last Tuesday, 15 deaths from COVID complications were reported by public health; that jumped to 66 recorded on Saturday, the highest in more than nine months. So we'll take a closer look at the supposedly "milder" omicron variant. Also--the hope had been that with the wildfire-like spread of the omicron variant, the COVID pandemic would turn "endemic," meaning we could start to treat COVID sicknesses like a seasonal flu. That thinking, it turns out, might have been too optimistic. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices