New crown cases rise again in most states, the United States may usher in a new wave of peaks

New crown cases rise again in most states, the United States may usher in a new wave of peaks

"A huge unknown?" said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. "We don't know how high this mountain is."
No one expected a spike like the last time around, when a highly contagious variant of the Omicron virus swept through the population.
But experts warn that the looming outbreak, caused by a mutant BA.2 thought to be 30 percent more contagious, will sweep across the country and drive hospitalizations in a growing number of states in the coming weeks. The wave of cases will be bigger than it appears, they said, because reported numbers are underestimated, and many people are now being tested at home for Covid-19 without reporting their infections, or not testing at all.
At the peak of the last Omicron-related surge in cases, hundreds of thousands of cases were reported each day. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases rose to 39,521 as of April 14, up from 30,724 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins University collected by The Associated Press.
Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said those numbers will likely continue to grow until the boom reaches about 1/1/2 of the last boom. 4 heights or so. The BA.2 variant is likely to have the same effect in the US as it does in Israel, he said.
Experts say higher levels of immunity in the U.S. from being vaccinated or infected with Covid-19 compared to last winter has helped control the surge in cases.
But Dr Wray said the US could end up with a substantial surge, like Europe.
Both experts say the BA.2 variant will gradually spread across the United States. The Northeast has been hit the hardest so far. More than 90 percent of new infections last week were caused by the BA.2 variant, compared with 86 percent nationwide. Vermont, Rhode Island, Alaska, New York and Massachusetts had the highest infection rates in the past 14 days as of Thursday. In Washington, D.C., which also ranks in the top 10 for new case rates, Howard University announced it will move most of its undergraduate programs for the remainder of the semester due to a surge in COVID-19 positivity rates in the region and on campus Back to online teaching.
Some states, like Rhode Island and New Hampshire, have seen an average daily increase in new cases of more than 100% in two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Rhode Island Department of Health spokesman Joseph Wendelken said that despite the rise in cases, hospitalizations remain relatively low, the metric they are most concerned about right now. About 55 Covid-19 patients have been hospitalized, and at one point more than 600 were hospitalized throughout the outbreak.
Officials attribute this to high vaccination rates. Statistics show that 99 percent of Rhode Island adults have been at least partially vaccinated, and 48 percent have received booster doses, which scientists say are key to protecting people from severe disease caused by Omicron.
Vermont also has relatively high vaccination rates and fewer patients in hospitals than at the peak of the first wave of Omicron. But the health commissioner there, Dr Mark Levine, said there had been a slight increase in hospitalisations and the number of patients in intensive care, although there had not been an increase in deaths.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed a slight rise in new hospitalizations diagnosed with COVID-19 in the New England and New York areas.
On the West Coast, modelers at Oregon Health & Science University predict a slight increase in hospitalizations in the state over the next two months, where cases have also risen sharply.
As new waves of infections move across the country, states with low vaccination rates could face more infections and severe cases, leading to higher hospitalizations, experts say.
Dr Ray said government leaders had to be careful to use the right tone when talking to people about protecting themselves and others after restrictions on the Covid-19 pandemic were largely lifted. Philadelphia recently became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask rules after a new wave of infections rose sharply. But Levine of Vermont said there are no plans to reinstate any restrictions that were earlier in place during the pandemic.
Dr Ray said: "It's hard to impose restrictive, draconian measures. Fortunately, we still have some tools that we can use to mitigate risk. So I hope leaders can stress that getting people to focus on the numbers The importance of it. Be risk aware and consider taking precautions like wearing masks and getting vaccinated - if they haven't been vaccinated yet."
Lynne Richmond, a 59-year-old breast cancer survivor who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, said she is planning to get a second booster dose, as her state and nearby She will continue to wear a mask in public as cases increase in Washington, D.C.
"I've never really stopped wearing a mask, I've been on high alert," she said. "I feel like I've been lucky enough to get this far, and I don't want to get Covid-19."
Experts say staying vigilant is a good strategy as the coronavirus continues to evolve. One of the latest: More contagious subvariants of BA.2, known as BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, have been discovered in New York State. Scientists warn that new and potentially more dangerous variants could emerge at any time.
"We shouldn't think this outbreak is over, we should still be vigilant at all times," Dr Topol said.