Data: N.Y. Times; Cartogram: Kavya Beheraj/Axios
The U.S. Omicron wave may be peaking, but now COVID deaths are climbing as cases continue to soar in most of the country.
The big picture: Omicron's stranglehold in the U.S. started about a month ago. Its death toll — while almost certain to be smaller than previous waves of the pandemic — is only now starting to take hold, and deaths will likely continue to rise for several weeks.
