White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci says all indications thus far point to the Omicron variant being a “less severe” strain of COVID-19 when compared to previous iterations of the virus. Fauci says that while the variant is highly transmissible and is able to evade immunity, the nationwide uptick in cases as a result of Omicron is disproportionate to the number of hospitalizations, indicating the strain may be less severe. “The pattern and disparity between cases and hospitalizations strongly suggest that there will be a lower hospitalization to case ratio when the situation becomes more clear,” said Fauci at Wednesday’s White House COVID update. Fauci also pointed to studies abroad in countries where the Omicron strain has progressed for a longer period of time. One South African study published Tuesday shows a 4.5 percent rate in Omicron hospital deaths compared to 21.3 percent in other strains. ICU admissions were …