Via The New York Times: Omicron accounts for nearly three-quarters of new U.S. cases. Excerpt:
The extremely contagious Omicron variant is now the dominant version of new coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has prompted the resumption of mask mandates in some cities and states in the Northeast, where the growth in new cases has been particularly steep.
Omicron, first discovered overseas around Thanksgiving and identified in this country on Dec. 1, now accounts for more than 70 percent of new cases in the United States, according to federal estimates released Monday.
The estimates underscored the rapid spread of the new variant. Two weeks ago, the C.D.C. said Omicron accounted for just 1 percent of U.S. cases; a week ago, it was about 13 percent. Delta, which for months had been the dominant form of the virus, accounted for about 26 percent of new cases over the last week, the C.D.C. estimated.
Omicron, discovered thanks to its distinctive combination of more than 50 mutations, has turned out to be highly transmissible — two to three times as likely to spread as Delta — and less susceptible to vaccines than other variants. Early cases raised hopes that it may cause milder disease than other variants, but scientists say more research is needed.
In New York, new cases have shot up more than 80 percent over two weeks. In Washington, D.C., where the mayor reinstated an indoor mask mandate on Monday, more than three times as many cases are being identified each day as at the start of December. In Boston, where cases are also surging, Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday announced proof-of-vaccination requirements for certain indoor spaces like gyms and restaurants.
In a news conference on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City said that the city must “move faster” in its response to the latest wave of new cases, but insisted that another lockdown “would have horrible impacts on the people of this city.”
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, on Monday called the surge in new cases “a vertical increase” because “it is going straight up,” but she did not announce new restrictions. Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, appeared at her daily coronavirus briefing without the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, who tested positive for coronavirus via a rapid test earlier in the day.
The tens of thousands of new cases in recent days have included prominent politicians and lawmakers, such as Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland, and Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
The surge is coming as many hospitals have reached capacity and governors in several states have mobilized the National Guard to help with hospital staffing shortages. As Covid-19 cases crowd into hospitals, leaders of health care facilities in multiple states have taken out newspaper ads begging local residents to get vaccinated.
