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Find the latest information on the Coronavirus outbreak in Utah, including public health measures, contact information, news updates, and more.

Utah doctor says we should focus on delta variant while more is learned about omicron

As the world rushes to deal with the omicron COVID-19 variant, doctors at Intermountain Healthcare say people in Utah should focus on the variant that’s already here — the delta variant.Infectious disease physician Dr. Eddie Stenehjem says researchers need more time to fully grasp what the new variant is. He says the main threat in Utah remains the delta variant because no cases of omicron have been detected in Utah thus far.

 

Stenehjem says his biggest concern with the omicron variant is the number of mutations it has. He says omicron appears to be more transmissible, but it remains unclear whether or not it leads to more severe symptoms.

 

Stenejhem expects more information to be released about omicron within the next 10 to 14 days. He says in order to combat these variants, people should get vaccinated or get a booster.

Tyler Hewitt is the web/social media assistant at UPR. He writes stories every day, updates the website and manages the station's Twitter and Facebook pages. Tyler is a senior at Utah State University and is studying public relations, marketing, and psychology. He loves to write, listen to music, play video games, play tennis and hang out with his fiancé and cat, Juno. He is a great plant dad and recently started collecting vinyl records!