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US hits second-daily highest average diagnoses rate since pandemic began 


COVID cases in the US have soared by 38 per cent in the last 24 hours to 238,278 new infections as the Omicron variant continues to spread, with some states seeing cases rocket by up to 670%. 

Thursday’s update in infection numbers from Johns Hopkins University saw diagnoses climb from 172,072 for the previous day. Deaths were also up slightly, from 2,093 yesterday to 2,204 today. 

Hospitalizations sit just under 63,000, including almost 16,000 COVID patients receiving intensive care treatment, according to analysis by the New York Times. That is well below the winter 2020 peak of almost 130,000 in hospital, 30,000 of whom were in ICU. 

Meanwhile, multiple US states have seen 14 day infection rates soar. In Florida, cases are up 509 per cent, in Washington DC, they’re up 541 per cent, and in Hawaii they’ve rocketed by 670 per cent.   

Hawaii saw 74 new confirmed Omicron cases on Wednesday, with Florida and DC each reporting 24 cases of the mutant strain. The US has a total of 2,625 confirmed Omicron cases, according to data scraped from individual states’ figures. 

But the true Omicron total is exponentially higher, as only a small number of positive PCR tests are sequenced to identify which strain of COVID has caused a person’s infection. The CDC estimates that Omicron now comprises at least 73 per cent of all infections in the United States, and up to 92 per cent in five states including New York and New Jersey.

The United States logged a seven-day average coronavirus case count of 168,981 on Wednesday, surpassing a summer peak of over 165,000 infections, according to the Washington Post. While worrying, the figure still falls well short of the 249,000 average hit in January 2020. 

That marks the second largest surge in cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago as the highly contagious Omicron variant has been detected in all 50 states, as well Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.  

New York, though, continues to have the highest number of new Omicron cases with 442 reported on Thursday, followed by Texas with 394 cases and California, with 358 new cases.  

In total, the Washington Post reports, nearly 70,000 Americans were in the hospital with COVID as of Wednesday, up about 11 percent from two weeks prior.

Officials now warn that the virus could infect 140 million people between January and March – 60 percent of all Americans. Fortunately, though, recent British studies show the Omicron variant is milder. 

Imperial College London on Wednesday found that Omicron is 40 percent less likely to lead to serious illness than the Delta variant. 

Another study by the University of Edinburgh suggested that the new variant could slash hospitalizations by as much as 65 percent.

Both studies underlined, however, the importance of vaccines with the Imperial study stating the risk of hospitalization for an unvaccinated person was just 10 percent lower for Omicron than with Delta.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, just 72.8 percent of all eligible Americans had received their first COVID dose by Wednesday, and 61.7 percent are fully vaccinated.

And of those who are eligible for a booster shot, just 30 percent have received one.

On Wednesday, MSNBC medical analyst Vin Gupta suggested it is time to begin looking at the bioethics of placing a lower priority on the treatment of unvaccinated people.

‘This is where it’s controversial, but we need to talk about this, the bioethics of it broadly because this is not the last respiratory pandemic we’re going to face,’ the doctor told host Joy Reid.

‘What do we do with somebody who is unvaccinated who is taking advanced ICU therapies from someone who is vaccinated in the hospital? How do we rank that priority?

Florida, Washington DC and Hawaii have seen COVID cases surge more than 500 percent over the past two weeks

New York, California and Texas continue to have the most number of cases in the United States

New York, California and Texas continue to have the most number of cases in the United States

On Wednesday, MSNBC medical analyst Vin Gupta, left, suggested it is time to begin looking at the bioethics of placing a lower priority on the treatment of unvaccinated people during a panel discussion on The Reid Out

On Wednesday, MSNBC medical analyst Vin Gupta, left, suggested it is time to begin looking at the bioethics of placing a lower priority on the treatment of unvaccinated people during a panel discussion on The Reid Out

He said medical professionals triage who most deserves an organ transplant and should do the same for COVID care

He said medical professionals triage who most deserves an organ transplant and should do the same for COVID care

‘We do it for organs, kidneys, livers, lungs. We say “Did you smoke, did you drink recently?” If you did you’re lower on the list, even if you need it.

‘We need to start thinking of that model.’  

His comments came after the Reid Out host said she has run out of patience with vaccine hesitant Americans.

‘I’m sort of reaching my kind of peak fatigue, mental fatigue level and I’m not even dealing with what the doctor and what you guys are dealing with in real life,’ Reid told her panel of medical experts.

‘But it’s like I know off the top of my head, at least half a dozen people who have gotten COVID, who are vaccinated, but who got it in settings where they were around mixed groups of people who were not necessarily vaccinated.’

‘The unvaccinated are spreading this thing and it’s mutating, let’s be frank, because of the unvaccinated,’ she said before asking Gupta what he thought should be done about the Omicron variant, which is leading to an increase in breakthrough cases in those who have already gotten both doses of the COVID vaccine.

It carries mutations that are believed to enable it to more easily evade human antibodies. 

In response to Reid’s question, Gupta said: ‘We have to move away from the paradigm of even thinking about caseloads day over day because it’s overwhelming. It’s psychologically depressing, it’s discouraging.’

Hundreds of cars lined up at a COVID-19 testing site at Tropical Park in Miami on Tuesday as Florida saw a 509 percent increase in COVID cases

Hundreds of cars lined up at a COVID-19 testing site at Tropical Park in Miami on Tuesday as Florida saw a 509 percent increase in COVID cases

But in South Africa where the Omicron variant was first detected back in November, official figures show its COVID cases have fallen for the last five days in a row, dipping 21 percent in one week by Wednesday, one week after 21,099 new cases were recorded. 

Over the past few days, hospitalizations also seem to be leveling off at just below 400 admissions a day – compared to a height of 2,000 when Delta took hold. 

At the same time, data from South Africa suggest Omicron cases are more likely to be mild, in part thanks to protection from vaccines and previous infections.

And the study by Imperial, one of Britain’s leading universities, found that for someone who has been recently infected, the chance of hospitalization was slashed by 69 per cent in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The data came just moments after a similar study conducted in Scotland found the risk of being hospitalized with Omicron was 65 percent less than with Delta.

University of Edinburgh researchers said Omicron was as severe as Delta they would have seen around 47 people in hospital in Scotland, yet so far there are only 15.  

Dr Jim McMenamin, the national Covid incident director for Public Health Scotland, labeled the findings a ‘qualified good news story’, but said that it was ‘important we don’t get ahead of ourselves’.

He said: ‘The potentially serious impact of Omicron on a population cannot be underestimated. 

‘And a smaller proportion of a much greater number of cases that might ultimately require treatment can still mean a substantial number of people who may experience severe Covid infections that could lead to potential hospitalization.’ 

But Professor Mark Woolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh, said it was heavily caveated at the moment. The data is based on a small number of cases and didn’t have much data on those most at risk, the over 65s. 

 

About one month since Omicron was first detected in South Africa, the country's Omicron-driven Covid wave appears to be fading, with cases falling 22% in the last week

About one month since Omicron was first detected in South Africa, the country’s Omicron-driven Covid wave appears to be fading, with cases falling 22% in the last week

Hospitalizations in South Africa also seem to be leveling off at just below 400 admissions a day - compared to a height of 2,000 when Delta took hold

Hospitalizations in South Africa also seem to be leveling off at just below 400 admissions a day – compared to a height of 2,000 when Delta took hold

Omicron sufferers are 40% less likely to be admitted to hospital than those with Delta: British study of 300,000 finds variant IS milder than feared 

British scientists have found that Omicron sufferers are 40 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital with serious illness than those with Delta.     

Scientists at Imperial College London said that Britons who catch Omicron are between 15 and 20 per cent less likely to be admitted than those who get Delta.

But the real-world analysis, of more than 300,000 people between December 1 and 14, found the chance of having to stay in hospital overnight was even lower, with a reduced risk of between 40 and 45 per cent. 

That study came after a second analysis from Scotland on Wednesday found that the risk of being hospitalized with Omicron was 65 percent less than with Delta.   

The study by Imperial, one of Britain’s leading universities, found that even an unvaccinated person who has never had Covid and has no immunity, there was a 10 percent lower risk of being hospitalised with Omicron compared to Delta.

For someone who has been recently infected, the chance of hospitalisation was slashed by 69 per cent in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The finding may explain why in South Africa — where up to 70 per cent of people have immunity from prior infection but only a quarter are jabbed — is seeing daily hospitalisations stall at less than 400.  

Professor Neil Ferguson said: ‘You can see in London, we are getting a lot more people hospitalised. Not for very long, probably not with very severe illness.

‘And that’s not a reflection of Omicron versus Delta — that was already true for Delta infections, that they’re less severe than they were last year because there’s a lot of immunity in the population.

‘The challenge is, if there’s enough of them it still poses quite a challenge to the NHS. We’re not talking about anything like what we saw last year with over-flowing intensive care units and ventilator beds.’

The notoriously gloomy expert confirmed he expected the Omicron wave to be milder, with patients discharged from hospitals quicker and fewer Covid deaths, but warned there could still be significant pressure on the National Health Service (NHS).

He also warned that if infections are 40 per cent higher than they were with Delta then that could offset any reduction in severity. 

The data came just moments after a similar study conducted in Scotland found the risk of being hospitalised with Omicron was 65 percent less than with Delta.

University of Edinburgh researchers said Omicron was as severe as Delta they would have seen around 47 people in hospital in Scotland, yet so far there are only 15.  

Dr Jim McMenamin, the national Covid incident director for Public Health Scotland, labeled the findings a ‘qualified good news story’, but said that it was ‘important we don’t get ahead of ourselves’.

He said: ‘The potentially serious impact of Omicron on a population cannot be underestimated. 

‘And a smaller proportion of a much greater number of cases that might ultimately require treatment can still mean a substantial number of people who may experience severe Covid infections that could lead to potential hospitalisation.’ 

But Professor Mark Woolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh, said it was heavily caveated at the moment. The data is based on a small number of cases and didn’t have much data on those most at risk, the over 65s.  

As COVID cases soar across the U.S., health experts have predicted things will get worse in 2022 as the Omicron variant is expected to cause 140 million new infections from January to March, infecting 60 percent of all Americans, the majority of which will be asymptomatic cases. 

Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington updated their COVID-19 model and expect the virus to hit the US hard come January, peaking at 2.8 million new cases a day by January 28. 

‘We are expecting an enormous surge in infections … so, an enormous spread of Omicron,’ IHME director Dr. Chris Murray said told USA Today

‘Total infections in the U.S. we forecast are going from about 40 percent of the U.S. having been infected so far, to having in the next two to three months, 60 percent of the U.S. getting infected with Omicron.’ 

Despite the surge, experts believe the new infections will ultimately lead to fewer deaths and hospitalizations than the deadly Delta variant, as Omicron is believed to be a more infectious but less severe variant.

Still, Dr. Anthony Fauci has now urged Americans to disinvite unvaccinated people from Christmas gatherings as the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant fuels a surge in infections nationwide.

‘We’re dealing with a serious enough situation now that if there’s an unvaccinated person, I would say, ‘I’m very sorry, but not this time. Maybe another time when this is all over,” said Fauci in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday night. 

President Joe Biden has also promised to deliver 500 million COVID tests to Americans – but has not yet  signed a contract to buy them or set up a website so that people can place orders. 

‘That’s not a plan – it’s a hope,’ Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The New York Time .

‘If those tests came in January and February, that could have an impact, but if they are spread out over 10 to 12 months, I’m not sure what kind of impact it is going to have.’ 

It is not even known how many tests will be immediately available or how quickly they can be shipped out to American homes, according to new projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. 

Amazon, Walgreens and CVS have already imposed limits on how many tests each customer can buy because of the surging demand.

The president is now reportedly also considering changing the isolation recommendations for vaccinated individuals so that they can return to work quicker after they get a breakthrough case.

At her press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said quarantine guidance is under discussion, but Biden will defer to the government’s medical experts.

‘Given the spread of Omicron, given the transmissibility of Omicron, of course they’re continuing to look at a range of steps,’ she said.

Then on Tuesday, Fauci suggested on CNN that health care workers who test positive for COVID may be able to return in less than 10 das as long as they wear a mask and are asymptomatic, and Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian co-signed a letter asking Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, to reconsider its isolation guidelines for the fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg.

He wrote that even though Omicron is spreading quicker than previous variants it is ‘likely less virulent.’

‘To address the potential impact of the current isolation policy, we propose a five-day isolation from symptom onset for those who experience a breakthrough infection,’ Bastian wrote, along with Henry Ting, the airline’s chief health officer and Carlos del Rio, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University who serves as a medical adviser to the company.

Some experts have already suggested the CDC’s 10 day quarantine period is probably too long for vaccinated and boosted people with breakthrough cases.

‘Want 100 percent assurance? Sure do 10 days,’ Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted recently, but noted that he advises his friends to take a rapid antigen test after five days from exposure and if it’s negative it’s ‘reasonable to assume they’re no longer contagious.’ 

Meanwhile in Europe, several countries announced on Thursday they are introducing new COVID restrictions , with Spain making it compulsory to wear a face mask outdoors again and Belgium banning shopping in groups of more than two.   

Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium have also re-imposed partial or full lockdowns or other social distancing measures in recent days, and Germany’s health minister said he had not ruled out a full lockdown closing all but non-essential businesses.  

Italy and France are now also considering further lockdown measures. 



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