Covid-19 March towards endemic conditions in the United States as Omicron spreads

Joshua Siffer, associate professor of vaccines and infectious diseases at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said:

How quickly the endemic state is reached and how destructive the virus remains is what level of disease officials and individuals tolerate, the precautions they are trying to adopt, and the virus. It depends on how it evolves.

“This is a tug of war between society and the virus,” said Peter Chin Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Omicron shows how vulnerable societies remain, even in countries with relatively high levels of herd immunity. This variant accounted for 73% of new infections in the United States. In the week leading up to December 18, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates increased from 13% in the previous week. Hospitalization and death were already on the rise In the United States before Omicron was identified, authorities said they were expecting Its rapid spread Moreover Put a burden on the medical system..

As a new wave emerges, people and institutions are making decisions that reflect the changing attitudes of Covid-19 towards the threat.Biden administration is preparing Distribute 500 million free home quick tests Starting in January, we will increase vaccination capacity and place doctors and nurses in overweight hospitals, but do not require major closures.

Federal authorities encourage people to be vaccinated and boosted, wear masks in public indoors, and take tests before gathering with friends and family on holidays. Some cities and states are moving to reinstate indoor mask policies or require vaccination certification to enter indoor public spaces.

in the meantime, People and businesses have responded differently To Omicron. Some are shrinking their holiday plans, Others are moving forward.. Two years later, many are fed up with the pandemic turmoil and the precautions used to combat it. Some advances since last winter, such as vaccines and rapid testing, could help this surge of people maintain the activity that was withheld last winter, public health experts said. rice field.

Charity Dean, a former assistant director of the California Public Health Service and co-founder of a public health company, said: Group Inc. “We need to be proactive and implement them now.”

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It can be protected from Omicron. Testing and public health monitoring are also important.

Ali Khan, Dean of the Department of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said:

Still, Covid-19 and its effects are still there. Physiotherapist Noah Greenspan opened a rehabilitation clinic in New York City on Monday. Long covid.. He has been providing online services and small temporary clinics since October 2020.

“We are planning as if Covid would never go away,” said Dr. Greenspan.

Other companies are also adapting For life with Covid-19.

Joey and Yana Cabell installed a temperature scanner at the Chart House restaurant in Waikiki, Honolulu, and staff checked the customer’s vaccine card at the entrance. They reduced the number of tables they set to stay 6 feet away, but they’ve been at full capacity for two weeks after the restrictions were relaxed. They have musicians who play live every day. Mr. Cabel said Omicron hasn’t kept patrons away.

“The reality of our Covid is that we have now endured the worst,” she said. “We are back in normal business.”

The CDC states that the disease is endemic if it continuously circulates in the area in a predictable pattern at the baseline level. Lack of social turmoil Endemic, Said some public health experts.

The question is: how much risk and how many Covid-19 deaths do people and governments tolerate?

Lisa Lee, Infectious Disease Epidemiologist and Vice President, Virginia Tech, said: “We remain vulnerable,” she said, without some lasting precautions.

In a typical endemic condition, each infected person infects only one other person, preventing runaway and exponential spread. According to some estimatesEach person infected with the Delta variant infected the other 3-8 people. Omicron is considered to be more contagious.Early evidence from locations including South Africa Suggests that variants can cause less severe illnesses than Delta.. Public health experts warn that the slightly less toxic and highly contagious virus can still overwhelm the medical system.

Covid-19 is also a far more deadly enemy than influenza, an endemic that kills about 50,000 people in the United States. In bad season, According to the CDC.

New strains of influenza can spur epidemics or pandemics if cases exceed expected levels.

More than 1,200 people die daily from Covid-19 in the United States. However, even at much higher levels of death and infection than typical of influenza, public health experts could settle for a pattern in which the spread of Covid-19 is sufficiently predictable to be considered endemic. Say it’s expensive.

How the virus continues to mutate, how long the immune response from previous infections and vaccinations lasts, and how the government actively tackles Covid-19 all have an impact. Permanent social relationships With the virus, a public health expert said.

Andrew Neumer, an infectious disease epidemiologist and demographer at the University of California, Irvine, who studies the 1918 influenza pandemic, said the waves from the Covid-19 variant have been struck for decades, especially in winter. He said he expected to hit the United States on a regular basis. As herd immunity rises, mortality is likely to decline over time, he said. The price is that more illness and death can occur among those who are most vulnerable to the virus.

“Covid is now part of the woodwork,” he said. “It’s part of the furniture.”

Write to Brianna Abbott [email protected] And in Daniella Hernandez [email protected]