Clinical characteristics and outcomes of SARS-Cov-2 B.1.1.529 infections in hospitalized patients and multi-surge comparison in Louisiana.

Background: Peer reviewed data describing SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant symptoms and clinical outcomes as compared to prior surges in the United States is thus far limited. We sought to determine disease severity, presenting features, and epidemiologic factors of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant compared to prior surges.

Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis was performed on patients admitted during five surges in Louisiana between March 2020 and January 2022.