In January, the number of deaths peaked at an average of 3,400 a day.
Washington:
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US hit its highest average ever for the number of new Covid cases as the Omicron variant spread at breakneck speed.
The seven-day moving average of new cases was 265,427 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous peak of 251,989 set in mid-January 2021, a university-maintained tracker showed. .
Before Johns Hopkins released the data, Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the number could be “the tip of the iceberg” with the true number of cases possibly higher. much, because of a shortage of tests and results from home tests not included. .
The heavily mutated strain of Omicron, which, according to government models, accounted for about 59% of US cases nationally in the week ending December 25, is the most contagious strain seen to date.
It can often ignore pre-existing immunity from vaccinations and previous infections.
Although the rate of serious outcomes appears to be lower, Omicron has overwhelmed previously stretched hospital systems across the country, with medical staff having to leave from exhaustion.
According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 9,000 patients are admitted each day, still slightly below the peak of 16,500 a day seen in January, although This is a lagging indicator.
An average of 1,200 people died every day on December 23, the day before data collection was interrupted by the Christmas holidays.
In January, the number of deaths peaked at an average of 3,400 a day.
Experts are hoping the US Omicron wave will resemble a “flash flood” as seen in South Africa, where it was first reported in mid-November but cases have been steadily declining since more than a week .
The latest milestone to come out is that the CDC has shortened the recommended period that people should isolate after testing positive from 10 to five days, as long as they don’t have symptoms and continue to wear a mask.
The move was hailed by airlines and the hospitality industry, but public health experts criticized the decision to ignore the requirement for a negative Covid test – even via rapid antigen, which correlates well with the likelihood of a negative Covid-19 test. infectious ability.
More than 820,000 Americans have died from the pandemic, making the United States by far the worst-affected country in the world.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
