Topline
Covid-19 cases are rising in more than half of all states due to the new coronavirus subvariant, but White House Covid-19 advisor Dr. Ashish Jha said Sunday the vaccines are still “holding up” against the virus and the new strain does not cause more severe infection.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 07: A person receives a COVID-19 vaccination dose, during a free … [+]
Key Facts
Omicron subvariant BA.2 is more transmissible than the original strain, Jha—who serves as the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator—told ABC’s This Week on Sunday, causing infections to tick up.
The country averaged just under 35,000 new infections in the seven-day period ending Friday, up 42% from two weeks prior, though cases are well below their January peak, when the U.S. faced over 800,000 daily infections, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
New daily coronavirus cases have risen in 32 states over the last two weeks, while 18 saw declines in that period, according to data compiled by the New York Times, with cases increasing by 145% in Michigan—by far the largest increase of any state.
Jha told ABC people who are vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19 are “going to do fine” as the new variant spreads.
Jha also told Fox News Sunday he believes large events like the White House Correspondents Dinner, scheduled for the end of April, don’t need to be canceled if everyone in attendance is vaccinated and safety precautions are taken.
Key Background
The BA.2 subvariant has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S. in the past month. Some 99% of sequenced cases were omicron as of April 9, and nearly 86% of those cases were BA.2, according to the CDC.
Contra
Covid-related hospitalizations and deaths continue to remain fairly low despite the BA.2 uptick. The U.S. averaged just under 10,000 Covid-related hospitalizations in the week ending Friday—a 18% decrease from two weeks prior and far below the winter surge of over 145,000, according to the CDC. Similarly, the U.S. averaged just under 400 daily deaths as a result of Covid-19, down 31% from two weeks ago and a massive dropoff compared to February, when an average of over 2,600 people were dying daily.
Crucial Quote
“We are in a much much better place than we have been for the last two years, certainly way better than we were in January,” Jha told NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday. “Cases are ticking up, and we’re going to want to watch this carefully.”
What We Don’t Know
Covid-19 testing has decreased significantly nationwide since the winter surge, with just under 650,000 tests taken Friday compared to over 2 million per day in late January, according to Johns Hopkins University—potentially masking the true coronavirus case rate. Last month, Missouri recorded a 68% decline in cases in the last two weeks, the sharpest decline of any state, but the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services urged residents to continue to seek testing as a preventative measure.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/masonbissada/2022/04/17/covid-cases-rise-in-32-states-amid-new-virus-strain-but-white-house-says-vaccines-are-holding-up/