More than a year after the Chicago — vaccine was launched, new cases of COVID-19 in the United States surged to record highs, averaging over 265,000 per day. This is a surge caused primarily by the highly contagious Omicron mutant.
According to data held by Johns Hopkins University, the number of new cases per day has more than doubled in the last two weeks, surpassing the 250,000 old mark set in mid-January.
The rapidly spreading mutant version of the virus has hit Christmas and New Year hard, and after a few weeks when Americans seemed to enjoy the almost normal holiday season, they decided to shrink the community or stop the festival. I was forced to do it. Thousands of flights canceled due to staff shortage due to virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top US infectious disease expert, said Wednesday that there was no need to cancel a small home gathering among vaccinated and boosted family and friends.
But, “If your plan is to go to a New Year’s Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everyone hugs and kisses and wishes each other a happy New Year, don’t do this year. I highly recommend that, “he said.
The threat of Omicron and the desire to spend a vacation with friends and loved ones prompted many Americans to be tested for COVID-19.
24-year-old Aravindh Shankar flew from West Lafayette, Indiana to San Jose, California with his family for Christmas. He was fine, but he was on a plane, so he decided to take the test on Wednesday just to play safely.
He and his family spent almost a day looking for an appointment for his examination before going to a parking lot next to San Jose Airport.
“It was actually surprisingly hard,” Shanker said about trying to find a test. “Sure, some people are difficult.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Gebreyes says he is worried that Omicron may combine with the Delta type to cause a “tsunami” in the case. “It will put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and the health system on the verge of collapse,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of Americans currently hospitalized for COVID-19 is about 60,000, about half the number seen in January.
Hospitalization may lag behind cases, but hospital figures may reflect both the protection provided by the vaccine and the possibility that Omicron will not make people as sick as previous versions.
The death toll of COVID-19 in the United States has increased from an average of 1,200 per day to about 1,500 over the past two weeks.
Public health experts are closely watching next week’s numbers for signs of vaccine effectiveness that will prevent serious illnesses, keep people away from hospitals, and reduce the burden on exhausted health care workers. Epidemiology at Emory University.
He already suggests that CDC data already suggest that unvaccinated people will be hospitalized at a much higher rate than vaccinated people, even if the effectiveness of the shots declines over time. Stated.
“If we can survive this surge with minimal impact on the entire healthcare system, it’s where vaccines really show their value,” says Bednarczyk.
Ameshua Dalha, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Health Security Center at Bloomberg School Public Health, said hospitalizations are very unlikely to reach their previous peaks. Vaccines and treatments developed since last year have made it easier to control the spread of the virus and minimize the serious effects of people with breakthrough infections.
“It will take some time for people to get used to the fact that the incident is not as problematic as it was in the past,” Adalja said. “We have a lot of protection against it.”
However, he added, the virus can cause havoc to hospitals and health care workers, even if fewer people are hospitalized compared to past surges.
“In a sense, all these hospitalizations are preventable, which makes them even worse,” he said.
Several European countries, including France, Greece, the United Kingdom and Spain, also reported record cases this week, urging a ban on music at the New Year celebrations in Greece and encouraging immunization by French authorities. Promoted the promotion.
WHO reported last week that new COVID-19 cases worldwide increased by 11% from the previous week, with approximately 4.99 million people recorded between December 20 and 26. However, the United Nations Health Agency also noted a reduction in cases in South Africa where Omicron was first detected about a month ago.
