U.S. virus cases and hospitalizations continue steady decline
LA TimesAverage daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the U.S., an indicator that the Omicron variant’s hold is weakening across the country. “I think what’s influencing the decline, of course, is that Omicron is starting to run out of people to infect,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and infectious disease chief at the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The good thing is it can spread to a lot of people and make them mildly ill, because in doing so, it has created a lot of natural immunity.” However, Schaffner said it’s much too early to “raise the banner of mission accomplished.” As a public health expert, he said he’ll be more comfortable if the decline sustains itself for another month or two. “My own little adage is, better to wear the mask for a month too long, than to take the mask off a month too soon and all of a sudden get another surge.” Officials in many states are cutting back on restrictions, saying they are moving away from treating the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health crisis and instead shifting to policy focused on prevention. “This news highlights the progress we’ve made in our fight against Covid-19 thanks to vaccines & boosters,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said via Twitter.