Topline
Daily coronavirus infections plateaued across the United States last week—and are on the rise in several states—following weeks of steadily declining case counts, even as Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue to drop nationwide, as U.S. health officials voice concern that the virus’ BA.2 omicron subvariant could fuel another uptick in infections.
A health worker takes a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 testing site at St. John’s Well Child and … [+]
Key Facts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an average of 27,594 new cases per day in the seven-day period ending Friday, nearly identical to March 18’s average of 27,262 cases—one of the first national plateaus since cases began to drop in mid-January following the winter’s record-breaking omicron surge.
Average cases have risen over the last two weeks in nine states, along with Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and American Samoa, while cases have declined in the other 41 states, according to data compiled by the New York Times.
Kentucky is facing the fastest rise in Covid-19 cases, with a 106% uptick in two weeks according to the Times, followed by New York (up 56%), Colorado (30%), Massachusetts (27%), Texas (18%), Connecticut (17%), Vermont (17%), Rhode Island (9%) and Delaware (8%).
Covid-19-related hospitalizations continue to decline nationally, with 1,712 new hospital admissions per day in the weeklong period ending Thursday compared to 2,152 the week prior, according to the CDC—every state has reported a 14-day decline in hospital patients, according to the Times.
Deaths from Covid-19 also continue to drop: Some 705 people died per day on average as of Friday compared to 978 the week before, according to CDC data.
Key Background
The CDC is monitoring the prevalence of the BA.2 subvariant of omicron, which represents an estimated 35% of U.S. coronavirus cases and has been blamed for spikes in other parts of the world, agency Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House Covid-19 briefing Wednesday. BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than the initial omicron strain, though it is no better at evading immunity, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Last week, the World Health Organization published sequencing data showing the BA.2 subvariant has become the predominant variant globally, as 99.8% of samples sequenced were omicron and 86% of those samples were BA.2.
Big Number
7%. That’s the rate at which weekly Covid-19 cases have risen globally, according to the WHO—the second consecutive week in which cases have risen following months of declines. Cases are on the rise in some European countries, with infections rising 57% in Hungary and 42% in France in the last week, the WHO said.
What To Watch For
White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC last week the U.S. “likely will see an uptick in cases as we’ve seen in the European countries” due to BA.2 and an easing of Covid-19 restrictions, but he does not expect a surge.
Tangent
The U.S. is running low on funding for essential Covid-19 medical supplies, such as vaccines, tests and treatment, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday during the briefing. Zients said “Congress has failed to act” by not providing additional funding, and the U.S. has already been forced to reduce its distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments by 35%.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/masonbissada/2022/03/27/us-covid-cases-plateau-after-months-of-declines-and-rise-in-some-states/