Covid’s cases in the United States continue to disappear at the peak of Omicron The winter wave, driven by variants, falls further into the rear view.
The nation reports an average of 87,060 new infections each day, the lowest number since the Omicron variant first launched on December 1. This is also a drop of 36 percent in the last seven days, and for the second day in a row the average daily case fell below 100,000.
Cases fell by 89 percent from the peak of Omicron’s jump on January 15 to about 800,000 cases a day. The average daily infection in the nation has been declining every day for the past 29 days.
Omicron has not disappeared and accounts for more than 99% of sequenced positive cases in the United States. But the sharp drop in cases and relatively mild side effects for most sufferers continue to raise hopes that the Covid pandemic is finally on the brink of extinction.
The rapid decline in Omicron cases since its peak, a phenomenon registered in other countries such as the United Kingdom, South Africa and Denmark, too, combined with the relatively mild nature of the highly infectious strain, officials hope the option is the final stage in the Covid “pandemic” phase.
Between a strong booster campaign – with more than 70 percent of eligible Americans receiving the vaccine – and millions of Americans also having innate immunity due to a previous infection, Omicron may have just killed people.
Many experts hope that this will mark the beginning of the “endemic” phase of Covid, where people can live with the virus without any restrictions, like the flu.
However, a new threat may be around the corner. World Health Organization (WHO) officials warn global health leaders not to remain vigilant as Omicron’s stealth version spreads around the world.
The “stealth” variant, or BA.2, as officially classified, is a pedigree of the Omicron variant, lacking some key indicators that allow it to be easily ranked – hence the nickname “stealth”. It is not thought to cause a more severe infection than the original, BA.1, version of the variant, but is about 30 percent more portable.
The WHO reports that 35 percent or more of one in three Covid cases worldwide is stealth. The family quickly established itself in Denmark and the United Kingdom last month and halted a sharp drop in the number of cases.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that pedigree still accounts for less than five percent of cases in the United States, while its predecessor, BA.1, still accounts for almost every new case in the United States. America.
WHO officials say they are monitoring the situation and looking at data from multiple countries to determine the potential level of threat to the line.
“We are watching not only how fast these peaks are rising, but also how they are coming down,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist. said.
“And as the decline in cases occurs… we must also consider: Is there a delay in this decline? Or will we start seeing an increase again?
U.S. health officials, while monitoring the situation, do not appear to be particularly concerned about the new strain and are making plans to move through the Covid pandemic phase.
The stealth option has not yet succeeded in the United States, accounting for only about 5% of active cases (pink)
California became the first state to declare Covid an “endemic,” with Gov. Gavson Newson announcing last week that the nation’s most populous state was ready to withdraw from the pandemic. The Golden State joined a group of nearly a dozen blue states that lifted pandemic restrictions in mid-February.
The reduction in the number of Covids, along with a number of blue states to ease measures, has increased pressure from the White House and the CDC to remove remaining restrictions on the pandemic. The CDC still recommends camouflage in schools and other public places indoors, although many remaining states are lifting the restrictions.
Americans also have to disguise themselves at airports and on airplanes, thanks to current federal law, and Amtrak and other public transportation organizations are also enforcing the rules.
The pressure is also coming from abroad, as European nations begin to declare the pandemic over and return to a “normal” life. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson is ready to remove the few remaining restrictions on Covid – including isolation requirements for a positive test – this week.
Earlier this month, the nation lifted many other restrictions, such as home work orders, mask mandates and capacity restrictions in certain places. The requirement for National Health Service employees to be vaccinated in order to stay at work can be removed. Evidence of vaccination requirements in some places will also be dropped.
However, US federal officials are reportedly looking to end the pandemic. Covid control will now require the use of regular, possibly annual, booster vaccines. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Food and Drug Administration has already begun the process of reviewing data on fourth doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has suggested since last year that there may be a fourth vaccine. Pfizer CEO Albert Burla said in January that these repeated shots would be needed in the long run to keep Covid under control. Israel, which overtook the United States during the introduction of the vaccine, recently made a fourth vaccine available to its elderly population.
Some Americans may now receive fourth doses of the vaccine. The CDC recommends that immunocompromised Americans receive an additional injection to boost their defenses against Omicron. While the Omicron variant poses a small risk to the general population, some people with serious comorbidities are still at risk of severe infection if they do catch the virus.
There are fears that Americans will not want to continue receiving doses of the Covid vaccine, especially if they do not think the virus is a major threat. Although the boosters became available to the general population in late September, the use of boosters did not peak until Omicron arrived in December.
The population waiting for Covid’s cases to rise or waiting for a variant that is considered more dangerous to arrive before receiving additional shots is what opens the door to future variants and outbreaks.
Covid’s deaths are also declining rapidly in the United States. The nation has an average of 1,819 deaths a day from Covid, down 20 percent in the past week.
