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More than 99% of Covid Cases Omicron Variant says “Reliable” CDC
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data, showing that omicron variant cases of COVID-19 make up 99.5% of the country’s cases.
In comparison, only 0.5% of cases are reportedly due to the delta variant.
According to the agency’s data, over 65 million cases have been confirmed in the U.S. while over 847,000 deaths have been recorded.
Per the Coronavirus Center of Johns Hopkins University, the country has reported 717,874 cases in the past day while 1,122 deaths have also been confirmed. The university’s data also shows that the U.S. has had 66 million cases and 851,000 deaths.
These reports come as records of hospitalization in the eastern part of the country have gone down – slowing in places where omicron first here – while going up in other areas of the country.
On Monday, four hospitals in Oklahoma City reported that they do not have any ICU beds available.
For the week ending on Sunday, the state of West Virginia reported over 20,200 COVID-19 cases, which is 18% above the record it reported in the previous week, which was at 17,100.
In the western part of Michigan, jury trials in several counties needed to be paused because of a large increase in cases.
In Kansas, two huge school districts had to cancel classes this week because of a surge in cases among both staff and students.
Some people have speculated with regards to when omicron’s peak would happen. However, scientists have warned that the variant’s hold on the county almost ensures that it won’t be the last COVID-19 variant the U.S. will be concerned with.
“It’s the longer, persistent infections that seem to be the most likely breeding grounds for new variants,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert from Johns Hopkins University, as reported by The Associated Press. “It’s only when you have very widespread infection that you’re going to provide the opportunity for that to occur,” he went on to say.
Even though almost 75% of the eligible U.S. population have gotten vaccinated, a lot of people are still not.
According to CDC data, 79.7 million people have gotten their booster shot and are, therefore, “up to date” with their vaccination.
In an effort to fight the spread, Pres. Joe Biden’s administration announced last week that it would deploy six medical teams to the states of Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island to help hospitals deal with the overwhelming number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Additionally, according to White House Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz, over 14,000 National Guard personnel have been deployed in 49 states since Thanksgiving.
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