Referring to prediction by Mayo Clinic’s Covid 19 model, Star Tribune writes Minnesota’s rapid spread of Omicron variant would peak by next week and gradually starts declining.

“In Minnesota, all we’re seeing are things going up and up and up, but around the country there are a lot of places where it’s going down and down and down right now. We’ve seen it peak in several places now. That’s giving the model more information.”

– Curtis Storlie, co-creator of Mayo Clinic’s Covid-19 Model (source: Star Tribune)

According to Curtis Storlie, the peak could come as early as Saturday or as late as Feb. 1.

The surge is — frankly it’s scary how many cases we are seeing.

– Dan Huff, assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health (source: Star Tribune)

Matt Binnicker, Mayo’s director of clinical virology, told Star Tribune “That’s the silver lining. It’s a crazy roller coaster ride of a fast rise to the peak, then a quick drop-off from there,” referring to the forecast.

“Mayo’s forecast is similar to a projection by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington state that indicates Minnesota’s peak already occurred Monday,” Star Tribune reports.

• Mayo model foresees omicron peak in Minnesota next week
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• Latest on COVID-19 in MN: Signs of a possible peak; 11K pandemic deaths

Carla K. Johnson of AP News writes that referring to yet another model that US would face wave of omicron deaths in coming weeks.

A lot of people are still going to die because of how transmissible omicron has been. It unfortunately is going to get worse before it gets better.

– Jason Salemi, University of South Florida epidemiologist (source: AP News)

Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University, who co-leads a team that pulls together several pandemic models and shares the combined projections with the White House, told AP News “Overall, you’re going to see more sick people even if you as an individual have a lower chance of being sick.”

Referring to expected wave of deaths Shea reportedly added “This is omicron driven. The combined models project 1.5 million Americans will be hospitalized and 191,000 will die from mid-December through mid-March. Taking into account the uncertainty in the models, U.S. deaths during the omicron wave could range from 58,000 to 305,000.”