No deaths have been recorded as of Wednesday in connection with the COVID-19 variant omicron, buoying health officials’ hopes it may be less severe than earlier strains.

Early studies show that omicron symptoms may be milder than other COVID strains, but it is far more transmissible than the dominant delta strain.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that “So far, only one person in the U.S. has been hospitalized with omicron infection and there have been no deaths linked to the mutation.”