Early reports that Omicron causes less-severe disease than Delta seem to be borne out, but it’s not yet clear to what extent that’s due to the variant itself versus the populations it’s infecting.

Given within three days of symptom onset, the pill combination was nearly 90 percent effective at preventing high-risk patients from developing severe illness in a clinical study.

Unlike studies of antibody-rich transfusions in hospitalized patients, which overall have not found clear benefits, a new randomized trial finds that early convalescent plasma treatment cuts hospitalizations in half.

A preprint reports that the new SARS-CoV-2 variant multiplies faster in human bronchial tissue but slower in lung tissue than the Delta variant, potentially explaining how it’s spreading from person to person so quickly.