According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, states on Monday reported 512,553 cases — the most for a day since the start of the pandemic — after states paused for the Christmas break. The tally raised the seven-day average of reported cases to 237,061, less than 15,000 less than the pandemic recorded nearly a year ago.
Monday’s report did not include North Carolina, South Carolina and Rhode Island, which stayed. This gap in reporting and more blackouts during New Year’s weekend are expected to worsen tracking of the full extent of the pandemic’s trajectory until January, when reporting takes hold.
COVID-19 testing was also less prevalent earlier in the pandemic, complicating case-rate comparisons from one surge to another. As with earlier variants, tracking the spread of omicrons in the US has been a challenge for public-health officials. The CDC estimated Tuesday that Omicron was responsible for 59% of new infections for the week through December 25 and 23% for the week through December 18. Last week, the CDC estimated that Omicron had cleared about 73% of infections in a week. until 18 December. The CDC said on Tuesday that the latest figures fall within the limits of its statistical model and that the trend of the increasing prevalence of omicrons in US cases is clear.
The CDC also released a review Tuesday of a cluster of recent COVID-19 cases in a family of six in Nebraska. Cases indicate that Omicron is able to infect people who have had previous infections, and it causes mild symptoms in some people with some immunity, either from a vaccine or a previous infection. In addition, Omicron brings on symptoms sooner, about three days after exposure, rather than five or later, the agency said.
The first suspected case in the cluster was a 48-year-old man, who had returned from Nigeria on November 23 and showed COVID-19-like symptoms a day later. As of December 1, all six family members had positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests, and sequencing confirmed the Omicron variant in each case. Five members of the family, including the only person who has been fully vaccinated, confirmed the infection about a year ago. Each of them experienced similar or more mild symptoms during their previous infection. The family member who was not vaccinated, who was not confirmed to have the infection, had cough, joint pain, congestion, fever and chills. The CDC said no one in the family was hospitalized.
The CDC on Monday reduced the recommended isolation period for people infected with COVID-19 from 10 to five days. The new guidance reflects growing evidence that people with the virus are most contagious in the one to two days before the onset of symptoms and in the two to three days. Later, the agency said, concerns are being raised over staff outages as well as disruptions in the travel and healthcare sectors.
The CDC now says that infected people who are asymptomatic can leave isolation after five days and that masks should be worn when around other people for the other five, while vaccinating and coming into contact with someone with COVID-19. should wear a mask for 10 days and try to get The test was performed five days after exposure.
The CDC should include a requirement that people test negative with rapid testing before ending isolation, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Organization at the University of Saskatchewan. “Test-to-release using rapid testing is sensible and will actually reduce the chances of someone who is still infectious potentially transmitting the virus to others,” she said.
If the new CDC guidelines are adopted, they could enable people to return to work more quickly and save key industries from shaking. Thousands of flights were canceled over the Christmas weekend, while officials in the US and elsewhere have expressed concerns about how the quarantine is affecting the level of hospital staff.
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that some antigen tests, based on several at-home rapid tests, are able to detect the omicron variant, but “may have low sensitivity” to it. The data comes from a collaboration between the FDA and . The National Institutes of Health’s RADX program is intended to assess how successfully antigen tests detect omicrons in samples from infected patients. Antigen tests are known to sometimes give false negative results.
New York City will send children back to public schools on Monday to increase testing capacity and make it easier for children who are in school, the mayor, governor and incoming Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday.
Cities and states are going to provide some three million rapid test kits that will be distributed to students and staff who are in a classroom with a positive case. Students who test negative and have no symptoms will be able to stay in school. Officials said they plan to double the amount of routine testing of students in schools to track potential outbreaks and expand eligibility to include vaccinated students as well as staff .
President Biden officially lifted the ban on non-US citizens traveling from countries in Southern Africa effective December 31. Mr Biden announced the ban last month after the Omicron variant was identified in South Africa. An administration official said last week that Mr Biden would lift the ban.
Research conducted in South Africa and the UK shows that Omicron, while more transmitted, causes a milder form of the disease in vaccinated people than previous strains such as Delta. A new study from a South African laboratory suggests that infection with the new variant provides protection against delta.
Scientists at the Africa Health Research Institute looked at 15 vaccinated and uninfected people infected with Omicron. When they tested their blood samples against the delta variant, they saw a more than fourfold increase in antibodies against the virus over a two-week period.
Those who were vaccinated produced a stronger reaction against Delta, according to the study, which has not been peer-reviewed.
“If Omicron proves to be less pathogenic, it could show that the path of the epidemic has changed – Omicron, at least for now, and there could be less disruption to our lives,” said Alex Siegel, who led the Study.
The researchers cautioned that other types and pre-vaccination infections may have contributed to the increased protection from Delta, rather than Omicron infection alone, leading to increased antibodies against Delta.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint.
download
Our App Now!!
,