US hits new record for daily COVID cases amid testing woes

 

The United States has hit its highest-ever average of new COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads at a blistering pace, amid testing woes and health worker shortages.

The moving seven-day average of new cases was 265,427 as of Tuesday, surpassing the previous peak of 251,989 set in mid-January 2021, a tracker maintained by the university showed.

In a tweet, Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist, Michael Mina said the count was likely the “tip of the iceberg” with the true number of cases likely far higher, because of a shortage of tests and results from home tests not being included.

The heavily-mutated Omicron strain, which according to government modeling accounted for around 59 percent of national US cases in the week ending December 25, is the most transmissible seen to date.

Though the rate of severe outcomes appears to be lower, Omicron is already stretching previously strained hospital systems throughout the country, with health workers leaving in droves because of burnout.

Hospital systems are turning to “travel nurses” on lucrative short-term contracts to overcome shortages.

Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that nationwide almost 9,000 Covid patients are being admitted every day, still some way short of the peak of 16,500 per day seen in January, though this is a lagging indicator.

Around 1,200 people were dying on average every day on December 23, the day before data collection was disrupted by the Christmas holidays.