PHILADELPHIA (AP/KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. has reached its highest level of new COVID-19 cases on record, with more than 265,000 current positives. The omicron variant continues to have a tight grip on the U.S., more than a year after the vaccine was first rolled out.
That beats the old record of about 250,000 cases, which was reported back in January, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Recent numbers from Johns Hopkins show nearly 26,000 new cases in Philadelphia alone, just within the last month. Of course, more testing leads to more positive cases, and with the holidays, more people are getting tested.
According to data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, there were 822 new COVID-19 cases reported on this day last year. Today, that has more than tripled to 2,656.
This time last year, the entire state of Pennsylvania had a seven-day average of about 7,400 cases, compared to 10,400 this week.
Health experts point to both the delta and omicron variants for the nationwide increase in positive COVID-19 cases.
World Health Organization chief Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus blames some of the surge on the newer variants.
“Delta and omicron are twin threats that are driving up cases to record numbers, which again, is leading to spikes in hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.
He’s worried that both of these variants, circulating the country at the same time, could lead to a “tsunami of cases.”
Until scientists learn more about these strains, Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Andrew Pekosz advises people to just act with common sense.
“If you’re symptomatic, even if you have a COVID negative test, you should stay home,” he said, “because you’re sick with something. Hopefully it’s not COVID-19, but if you’re feeling symptoms, you should stay home and not spread whatever it is you’re infected with to your coworkers and your family members.”
The fast-spreading mutant version of the virus has cast a pall over Christmas and New Year’s, forcing communities to scale back or call off their festivities just weeks after it seemed as if Americans were about to enjoy an almost normal holiday season. Thousands of flights have been canceled amid staffing shortages blamed on the virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Wednesday that there is no need to cancel small home gatherings among vaccinated and boosted family and friends.
But “if your plans are to go to a 40- to 50-person New Year’s Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, I would strongly recommend that this year we not do that,” he said.
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The number of Americans now in the hospital with COVID-19 is running at around 60,000, or about half the figure seen in January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
While hospitalizations sometimes lag behind cases, the hospital figures may reflect both the protection conferred by the vaccine and the possibility that omicron is not making people as sick as previous versions.
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 1,200 per day to around 1,500.
CDC data already suggests that the unvaccinated are hospitalized at much higher rates than those who have gotten inoculated, even if the effectiveness of the shots decreases over time, he said.
It’s highly unlikely that hospitalization numbers will ever rise to their previous peak, said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School Public Health. Vaccines and treatments developed since last year have made it easier to curb the spread of the virus and minimize serious effects among people with breakthrough infections.
“It’s going to take some time for people to get attuned to the fact that cases don’t matter the same way they did in the past,” Adalja said. “We have a lot of defense against it.”
But even with fewer people hospitalized compared with past surges, the virus can wreak havoc on hospitals and health care workers, he added.
“In a way, those hospitalizations are worse because they’re all preventable,” he said.