‘Mild’ COVID Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does

Omicron is often described as a milder illness, but that doesn't always capture what it means to have the virus.

As omicron cases explode in the United States, health officials have offered stark warnings about our collective future. The variant is so contagious, “most people are going to get COVID,” Janet Woodcock, the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration, recently said. Two years into the pandemic, that’s not the news anyone wanted. So, many people are taking solace in emerging evidence suggesting omicron really does cause milder symptoms than previous variants. There’s a lot of talk about just getting omicron — and getting it over with .

But that’s misguided for many reasons, not the least because there is still so much experts don’t know about this variant and how it works. It’s also problematic because many people’s sense of what it means to have a “mild” case of COVID-19 is really ... off.