Even before the omicron variant establishes a firm foothold in the U.S., coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are soaring again, including in highly vaccinated regions like New England.
The combination of the late fall’s colder weather, holiday gatherings, increased travel and pandemic fatigue has likely played a major role in the surge, as has the failure to vaccinate a larger portion of the population. More than 35% of eligible Americans, including 28% of adults, still aren’t fully vaccinated.
New cases in the U.S. climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalizations are up 25% from a month ago. The increases are almost entirely from the delta variant, though omicron has been confirmed in at least 21 states and is sure to spread even more.
Deaths are running close to 1,600 a day on average, back up to where they were in October. And the overall U.S. death toll less than two years into the pandemic figures to hit the 800,000 milestone in a matter of days.
Federal officials are touting vaccination rates that have climbed recently: 12.5 million shots administered last week, the highest total since May. It’s still not clear how effective vaccines will be at fending off the omicron variant, though Pfizer-BioNTech said Wednesday a third shot of their vaccine produces a 25-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies compared to the original two-jab regimen.
The Biden administration has been promoting…
