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Health officials say new COVID peaks are on the way; the question is, how bad?

A 3D-generated image of the variant of concern known as omicron. The little bumps are spike proteins (see definition below).
Uma Shankar Sharma/Getty Images
A 3D-generated image of the variant of concern known as omicron. The little bumps are spike proteins (see definition below).

State health officials say the highly contagious omicron variant is now the dominant strain of the coronavirus in Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says cases should peak by late January or early February. The question is, how bad will it get?

Doctor Natasha Bagdasarian is the state’s chief medical executive. She says there are things people can do to mitigate the spread, such as getting vaccinated and boosted, and wear KN95 masks or double mask in public.

“So we have a choice to make. Do we want to work on bringing that peak down or do we just want to let that omicron surge explode,” said Doctor Bagdasarian

State health officials say hospitals are already stressed. The risk is they’ll become too overwhelmed to treat everyone who needs help.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network.