Following yesterday’s news (15 December) from CNN about the worrying transmissibility of the Omicron variant,

James Spencer, Data Scientist at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Earlier this year, COVID-19-testing CEOs were cautioning that the demand for COVID-19 tests would drop as herd immunity was reached. However, this may have been a bit pessimistic of them (and unfortunate for us) as Omicron is now set to spread faster than any variant before it.

“The In Vitro Diseases market hit an all-time peak of about $700 million in the US at the beginning of this year as demands for rapid COVID-19 tests surged. As vaccinations rolled out and herd immunity was within sight, it quickly dropped to about half that in the summer months. Now that cases are unfortunately surging again, the demand for tests has likewise grown.

“Due to “COVID fatigue,” many people are arguing that Omicron is milder than the previous variants, and thus are being a lot laxer about self-isolation procedures. The World Health Organization has stated that this argument is a myth, but at this point, it seems there is not much willpower left for the population to go back into isolation. Perversely, this is fortunate for the testing companies, who could see revenues shoot back to the former $700 million peak sales in the US, or possibly exceed that mark.

“At this point, it remains to be seen whether society allows the variant to get out of hand again, or if we can stomach self-isolation for another few months as we wait on our next set of boosters.”