With the Omicron variant spreading throughout the U.S. and abroad, many people began feeling last week that their hopes of an end to the pandemic have been dashed.

Here are the latest updates, and what they could mean for the winter ahead.

Omicron symptoms can mimic the common cold

While experts say that the widely-recognized COVID-19 symptoms—a cough, fever or loss of smell or taste—are still indicators of a possible infection, researchers have found that Omicron symptoms can also be similar to that of a common cold.

The Delta variant’s symptoms have also been compared to the common cold, but some doctors have shared that Omicron cases they’ve seen so far have been particularly mild.

A U.K. study of around 750,000 people found recently that the top five symptoms for both the Delta and Omicron variants are currently a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and a sore throat. According to the South African doctor who first detected the Omicron variant, initial patients also experienced body aches and a scratchy throat.

Omicron appears to be more contagious, but there are questions about how severe it is

Preliminary studies of the Omicron variant have suggested that infections may be less severe than those experienced from the Delta variant.

However, it spreads more quickly. On December 16, the World Health Organization said that Omicron is spreading faster than any other previous strain and that the variant is probably already in most countries, even if it has not been detected yet.

A analysis published by South African researchers last week found that the risk of hospitalizations among adults who had COVID-19 was 29% lower for people who had the Omicron variant compared to the first wave of infections in 2020. However, the continent of Africa also experienced an 89% surge in new COVID-19 cases over the past week, the fastest surge since May of last year.

A different study published on December 16 by the Imperial College London found that in the Omicron cases they analyzed, infection was not any less severe than those from the Delta variant.

The Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik and Sinopharm vaccines have also been found to be largely ineffective when it comes to protecting against Omicron, studies have shown. And due to the variant’s high number of mutations, health experts are saying that it may be significantly resistant to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as well.

U. S. cities should expect a winter surge in cases

New York and New Jersey are seeing Omicron rates four times higher than the national average, at 13% compared to 3% for the rest of the country, Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told NBC on December 14.

Jake Lemieux, an infectious disease specialist at Harvard Medical School, is concerned that Omicron's high transmissibility, paired with the presence of the Delta variant, means that a double variant winter in store for the U.S.

“It’s spread around the globe in under two weeks. It’s a likelihood [Omicron] will come to your holiday gathering,” Lemieux told Bloomberg.

Experts say that even without Omicron, COVID infections are going through a “winter surge.” Currently, there is an average of 83,000 new COVID cases in the U.S. every day, even with 61% of the population vaccinated.

Some reasons for the rise in cases include people moving around the country like they did pre-pandemic, spending more time indoors because of cold temperatures outside, lower rates of mask wearing and a waning protection from vaccinations and prior infections, Ali Mokdad, a professor of health sciences at the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, told NPR.

As more people itch to return to life as it was before the pandemic, and the new variant being extremely contagious and resistant to vaccines, the risk of becoming infected is very real.

While Europe still battles the Delta variant, Omicron is spreading at a “ferocious pace”

European leaders are scrambling to have as much of their population vaccinated and boosted as possible as Omicron and COVID cases rise. On December 15 the U.K. reported its highest-ever number of COVID-19 cases, with 78,610 infections in 24 hours.

“[Omicron] is spreading at a ferocious pace and potentially has the risk of escaping our vaccines—at least partially. We know that our health care systems are overstretched right now,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters on December 17.

People are reacting quickly to Omicron’s spread

Last week, Cornell University shut down their campus after discovering 900 positive COVID cases, according to Bloomberg. Stanford University also announced its decision to return to online classes for the first two weeks of its winter quarter due to concerns around the Omicron variant, while Princeton University has moved all of its final exams online.

After more than 100 NFL players tested positive for coronavirus this past week, the league plans to postpone at least a few games, it announced on December 17. And companies continue to indefinitely delay their return-to-office plans amid fears surrounding the new variant.

“When you look at the pace of the infections now, things will get worse as we go into the depth of the winter,” Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the president, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation on December 17. “And with Omicron breathing down our back, things could get really bad, particularly for the unvaccinated.”