The word “Omicron” is on the rise, as a new variant of the Covid virus has been discovered. This discovery was made by Dr. Angelique Coetzee from South Africa and Google trends show that searches for this term have increased dramatically in recent days.
In the following, we at ThriveMyWay analyzed the latest statistics collected from Google Trends regarding Omicron searches around the US. The visualizations show both the top countries, as well as the cities, where Omicron searches are most common.
In the graph above, you can see that Omicron searches were virtually nonexistent from November 24th to November 26th, when there is a huge increase in searches. Searches rise and fall after the 26th, and are seen declining after the 29th.
Interest by country
Here we see in which US countries the term “Omicron” became the most popular between 26th November and 1st December.
The value ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the location with the most popularity as a percentage of total searches. A value of 50 indicates a location half as popular. A value of 0 indicates there was insufficient information to calculate a value.
The values for each of the 51 states are as follows:
- Hawaii 100
- District of Columbia 98
- California 92
- Massachusetts 89
- Washington 87
- New Jersey87
- Oregon 85
- Vermont 83
- Connecticut 81
- Colorado 78
- Maryland 78
- Alaska 76
- Virginia 74
- New York 72
- Maine 71
- Pennsylvania 70
- Rhode Island 70
- New Hampshire 70
- Illinois 70
- Minnesota 70
- Arizona 68
- New Mexico 66
- Nevada 66
- Florida 64
- Montana 63
- Wisconsin 63
- Michigan 62
- Texas 62
- Idaho 61
- Delaware 61
- North Carolina 59
- Utah 59
- Ohio 59
- Missouri 58
- Georgia 57
- Kansas 55
- Indiana 55
- Tennessee 54
- Kentucky 53
- West Virginia 52
- Oklahoma 52
- Wyoming 51
- South Carolina 51
- Nebraska 51
- Arkansas 49
- Iowa 49
- Louisiana 48
- Alabama 47
- South Dakota 44
- North Dakota 44
- Mississippi 42
With a search value of 100, Hawaii was the top US country with the most Omicron searches, followed by the District of Columbia with 98, California with 92, Massachusetts with 89, and Washington with 87, making these the top 5 US countries with the most Omicron searches.
Interest by city
With a score of 100, Mountain View is the top city followed by Palo Alto with 94, Redmond 92, Cambridge 90, and Berkeley 89
There is less interest in Omicron in Thousand Oaks, Portland, Minneapolis, Burbank, and Glendale with all having values around 50, which means the popularity is less than half of the total search numbers.
Conclusion of data
In general, we should be able to expect trends of upticks in Omicron searches to continue as more and more information about the new variant becomes available. Searches seem to be coming mainly from more populated areas or from areas with stricter Covid prevention, containment, and vaccination policies.