COVID-19

Covid-19 Tracker: The virus doesn’t wait for omicon

Good morning, Mission, and welcome to Virus Village, your (somewhat regular) Covid-19 data dump.

Despite all the worry over the new variant, the old variant appears to be back in business, as cases rose more than 25 percent between Wednesday’s report and today’s. Hospitalizations have been mostly static over the week, and positivity rates actually declined, while R Number estimates continue to suggest the the virus spread is increasing.

On the omicron front, researchers continue to report high spread and low severity, but it’s far too soon to tell if that’s true or what it means. Whether it’s omicron or delta, as the Atlantic reports, for vaccinated and unvaccinated alike it could be a grim winter.

Without consulting their panels of experts, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration have given approval to boost teenagers aged 16-17. Though there is widespread agreement that a booster will help the elderly and immunocompromised, there is little data as to whether it makes a difference for the young and healthy. The CDC has published Pfizer booster data (pre-omicron) on its website.

It will be interesting to watch the debate over a fourth shot, specifically for omicron. Dr. Fauci, for one, seems to think it will not be necessary. On the other hand, powerful forces are already ramping up their sales pitch.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki ridiculed the idea of sending free rapid tests to U.S. residents, as is done in other countries. Why? Too expensive. One prominent promoter of rapid tests claims that “that the spread of Covid-19 could be dramatically curtailed if just half of the U.S. population tested themselves every four days with at-home rapid kits that could cost the U.S. government as little as $5 billion.”

Scroll down for today’s covid numbers.

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