COVID-19 Update

Stayed up too late last night watching old movies, so that's my excuse for getting a late start today. That, plus I'm really fuckin' tired of this shit.

WaPo: (pay wall)

Omicron surge brings U.S. its highest rate of new coronavirus cases since start of pandemic

The United States is reporting the highest seven-day average of new coronavirus infections than at any point of the pandemic as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues surging across the country and into the new year.

FAQ: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus

As of Thursday, the nation’s seven-day average was 343,172 new cases a day, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. Single-day reports indicated that case counts may have hit more than 560,000 on Thursday — doubling the highest daily totals from last winter — but those numbers are not as reliable as the seven-day average.

Case numbers reported by states on a single day might not necessarily be all from one day, especially during the holidays, which is why The Post generally relies on seven-day averages. While the high volume of tests and staff shortages could play a role in the country reporting a single-day spike in cases, the rapid surge in infections from omicron over the past two weeks underscores what is now the most infectious period of the pandemic.

“It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of covid,” James Phillips, the chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN.

The seven-day average for new cases has increased by 82 percent compared with the previous seven days, Post data shows. While deaths and hospitalizations are also up nationwide, they are not increasing at the rate of new cases. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said this week that hospitalizations remain “comparatively low,” noting that those totals tend to lag behind infections by about two weeks. She emphasized that omicron appears to cause milder symptoms, especially for vaccinated people.

Fifteen states reported record-high average daily cases Thursday, according to The Post’s tracking, which can be affected by intermittent state reporting and holiday closures: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington. Puerto Rico and D.C. also experienced record days, data shows.

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The news of the spike in the seven-day average comes as U.S. health officials discourage large New Year’s Eve gatherings. Anthony S. Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, has urged Americans to rethink party plans and encouraged smaller gatherings to help prevent the spread of the virus. New York is among the cities set to forge ahead with outdoor festivities despite the warning.

There is, however, some optimism heading into 2022. The Food and Drug Administration is expected by early next week to authorize booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds, The Post reported. Infectious-disease experts also estimate that the spike in new cases from omicron, the country’s dominant variant, could peak by mid-January.

There is hope that there will be a swift decline in cases like there was in southern Africa, where omicron was first detected in late November. Cases in South Africa spiked quickly, then dropped with unexpected speed after a modest rise in hospitalizations.

“Omicron will likely be quick. It won’t be easy, but it will be quick,” William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, wrote in an email Thursday to The Post’s Joel Achenbach. “Come the early spring, a lot of people will have experienced covid.”

‘Crazy’ omicron surge could peak soon, but the virus is unpredictable as the pandemic enters its third year

With the rise in cases comes the push for stronger vaccine and testing policies in workplaces. The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on Thursday that is should not stand in the way of federal law that gives the administration the authority to impose a nationwide vaccine-or-testing requirement for large employers. The administration argued that the requirement would save thousands of lives.

“The nation is facing an unprecedented pandemic that is sickening and killing thousands of workers around the country, and any further delay in the implementation of the [requirement] will result in unnecessary illness, hospitalizations, and deaths because of workplace exposure” to the coronavirus, Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar wrote in a filing.

Biden administration defends its authority on vaccine policies to Supreme Court

Sixty-two percent of the country is fully vaccinated, according to The Post’s tracker. Twenty-eight states had vaccination rates lower than the national average as of early Friday.

About 68.8 million Americans who’ve completed their vaccinations had also received a booster shot since Aug. 13, according to the CDC.

The surge in cases has played out all over the country, especially in California, Florida and New York. More than 6.8 million new test results have been reported over the past seven days, data shows. Of those new tests, 18 percent came back positive.

Hospitalizations in Louisiana have tripled in the past two weeks, reported WWLTV. In Georgia, according to WXIA, six major health systems this week reported “a staggering surge in adults and children with covid-19 symptoms and diagnoses,” with most of those hospitalized being unvaccinated patients. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) announced that he had authorized the deployment of 200 National Guard troops to assist testing sites and hospitals. States including Arizona and New Mexico have also deployed federal medical personnel to help local testing sites.

As the world says goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022, some public health experts are warning of potential omicron-fueled disruptions to public life that might make the new year sound more like 2020. Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told MSNBC on Thursday that the rise in cases in recent days signals that the country could “have a hard time keeping everyday life operating.”

“The next month is going to be a viral blizzard,” he said.