Is Omicron Ominous?

Dr. Ewa King, director of Rhode Island’s State Health Laboratories, returns in this week’s episode to talk about COVID-19 variants. In Rhode Island, the State Health Labs coordinate the SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance program in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and clinical and academic laboratories. This means the State Health Labs are sequencing and analyzing a representative selection of samples of the virus circulating in the state to identify differences between these samples and the genetic material of the original virus. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask Dr. King about the evolution of COVID-19 testing and the State’s variant sequencing program. How reliable are COVID-19 tests? How pervasive has the Delta variant been in Rhode Island? Should people be more worried about the Omicron variant? Download this week’s episode to find out.