U.K. COVID Cases Are Rising. Health Officials Are Watching To See If The U.S. Is Next, NPR
NPR, March 19, 2022. - Ed.
U.S. health officials are watching the climb in COVID case numbers in the U.K. with concern. Daily case counts there have more than doubled, and hospitalizations are on the upswing. "Over the last year or so, what happens in the U.K. usually happens here a few weeks later," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the President's chief medical advisor said in an interview with NPR. "And right now, the U.K. is seeing somewhat of a rebound in cases."
Officials in the U.K. attribute the increase to the quick-spreading BA.2 omicron subvariant, the widespread removal of COVID restrictions, and to waning immunity from vaccinations and infections. "All 3 of those factors we have here in the U.S.," says Fauci, "So I would not be surprised if in the next few weeks we see either a plateauing...of cases or even [the curve] rebounds and slightly goes up. That is entirely conceivable. And we're just going to have to follow it carefully." (See GRAPH, Trends in U.S. cases since December. New daily cases7-day average -).
The CDC's COVID tracker shows that daily cases have dropped to their lowest levels since July 2021 – but the rate of decline in cases has slowed significantly and may be on track to level off. Wastewater surveillance also points to an uptick in viral activity at sites around the country. Experts caution that this data is new and untested, but consider it another potential sign that the U.S. could see new case growth. The wastewater system does not distinguish between omicron and sublineages, like BA.2..
But other data show the BA.2 subvariant is taking hold in the U.S. The CDC estimates that it's responsible for nearly a quarter of new COVID cases in the country so far. It's concerning because it's around 30% more transmissible than the original omicron, and less susceptible to some existing COVID treatments. The impact will depend in part on how effective existing immunity turn out to be, and how long it lasts after someone has been vaccinated, boosted, or recovered from infection. Health officials say they're watching the signals carefully, but don't yet see a reason to encourage the country to mask back up...
- More, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/03/19/1087682826/omicron-variant-ba2-surge
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- Also: Stealth' COVID Variant Spreading Faster in NY Than US, CDC Says: What to Know About BA.2, NBC, March 18, https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2890744
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Like many other places the economy depends on tourism. The problem is that some of the tourists are from places that don't take the masking and social distancing precautions seriously. They don't mask or distance if they can get away with it.
Locals here are pretty evenly divided about whether vaccinations are safe or not and also about masking being an infringement on personal rights. That 50% lives in population pockets where Covid transmits freely. We live in East Hawaii Island where most of that 50% live. It is frustrating.
Right now the number of cases here is almost double the rest of the State. We don't go out much obviously. I'm okay with that. We have property, dogs, a pool, and streaming.
It does seem beautiful. We fly between here and Oahu mostly, but not at all since this pandemic.
I'm glad I've had 3 shots, but we need an updated shot next.