Just days after many Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, the US is averaging more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases every day.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, as of Saturday, the seven-day moving average of new cases was 121,437. The last time the US surpassed 100,000 cases per day was in early October.
COVID-19 mortality rates are also on the rise, with 1,651 people dying from the virus on a seven-day average. According to JHU data, It’s been a little over a month since the average daily death rate has been this high.
Although the Delta variant continues to cause the majority of new cases in the United States, and as of Saturday, US health officials have discovered the new Omicron variant in at least 16 other states.
On Wednesday, the first case was discovered in California, and by the weekend, the variant had been discovered in 15 other states: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Officials are concerned about the Omicron variation because early indicators suggest it may be more contagious than the original strain, and the large number of changes it has could reduce the effectiveness of current vaccines.
Scientists are attempting to evaluate the severity and transmissibility of Omicron, but officials have stated that this might take weeks.
Despite this, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Thursday that the US is better prepared now than it was at the start of the pandemic to deal with the newly discovered variant.
He told CNN, “We are in such a different place now than we were one year ago because we’ve learned a lot more. We have vaccines available. We have far more tests available, and what we’ve got to do to get through this winter is to make sure that we are doubling down on our vaccination strategy.”
