As new variants of Omicron penetrate further into the US, a patchwork of signals suggests that the recent increase in Covid-19 infections has not triggered a corresponding increase in serious diseases, although risks remain. Levels of Covid-19 virus detected in sewage in the northeast, the first area where significant concentrations of the easily transmitted variant Omicron BA.2 were observed, appear to have leveled over the past two weeks. Admissions to Covid-19 hospitals have risen in the region, but remain well below levels during previous increases that showed widespread serious illness and taxed healthcare facilities. US FDA APPROVES GILEAD MEDICINE FOR COVID-19 FOR YOUNG CHILDREN “This wave of Covid in the United States, where it is located, is not as dangerous as the previous waves of Covid,” said Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and academic dean at Brown University School of Public Health. The rapidly mutating virus is still dangerous, he said. New York State is a hotbed of growing cases from another, even more widespread version known as BA.2.12.1. National wastewater levels have tripled since mid-March, according to Biobot Analytics Inc., although they are dim compared to measurements during the Omicron explosion. FDA APPROVES FIRST COVID BREATH TEST FOR EMERGENCY USE The number of new cases, although insufficient follow-up, in part because so many people are now doing self-monitoring at home, beyond the perspective of health services, is still growing. Cases have recently risen to a seven-day moving average of more than 55,000 a day, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than double the average since early April. Hospitalizations, although silent, are increasing and often lagging behind in the number of cases. The seven-day moving average of confirmed and suspected Covid-19s recently surpassed 17,100, federal figures show, from an all-time low following the explosion of about 14,770 in mid-April. It is also a fraction of the more than 159,000 patients during the Omicron increase. November 17, 2021, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro: A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 at Rio de Janeiro City Hall, where a vaccination site is located. (Photo by Andre Borges / image alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images) Epidemiologists say the U.S. may have gained at least some temporary protection from the record winter outbreak caused by an earlier version of Omicron combined with protection against Covid-19 vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week estimated that the percentage of people in the United States with antibodies to infections increased from 34% in December to 58% in February. MODERNA ASKS FDA TO APPROVE COVID VACCINE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 6 CDC director Rochelle Walensky said last week that increased protection against Covid-19 vaccines and previous infections was possible because hospitalizations have been relatively silent so far. “We have not seen them collect as much as we would have expected in previous eras during this pandemic, thanks to the fact that I believe there is a lot of protection in the community,” he said. The protective benefits of the Omicron wave came at a price, including the peak in early February of more than 2,500 recently reported Covid-19 deaths per day. More recently, the US has an average of about 350 reported deaths per day. Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the USA Close up of statistics on digital screen. Quarantine map. (iStock) The CDC said Thursday that New York is home to 37 of the 54 U.S. counties that the agency says have high levels of Covid-19 community transmission. The BA.2.12.1 version that is being developed there has a growth advantage of about 25% over the Omicron BA.2 variant, New York officials said. The CDC recommends wearing masks indoors, in public places in high-ranking counties. State officials were reluctant to re-impose masks. PFIZER REMEMBERS CERTAIN LOTS OF PRESSURE FOR PRESSURE IN THE PRESENCE OF CARCINOGENS “If our medical infrastructure is not in danger, it is not an emergency,” said Onondaga County Executive Director Ryan McMahon, a Republican whose county includes the city of Syracuse. Young barista and modern woman paying tirelessly in cafe wearing protective face mask to prevent coronavirus and other diseases (iStock) Federal officials and CDC risk assessments are also moving to a place where they focus more on hospitalization, while still examining cases to some degree. “The goal of our policies should obviously be to minimize infections whenever possible, but to ensure that people do not get seriously ill,” Covid-19’s White House coordinator Ashish Jha said on Tuesday. Mild infections can sometimes cause long-term symptoms and complications, some public health experts have said, and an unadulterated spread increases the risk of the virus becoming more sinister. GET FOX BUSINESS IN ENGINE BY CLICKING HERE The more transmission that can be stopped, the better for everyone, said Daniel Parker, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of California, Irvine. He said caution was needed, although recent increases in infections appear to be more of a blow than a big wave. “We are moving to the way we deal with the pandemic,” he said. “I hope we will be agile.”
