After a week on the plateau, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in the United States as a highly contagious new subtype of Omicron quickly penetrates the next dominant viral strain.
ᲛRiver A seven -day moving average Cases returned to where they were in February, with an average of 64,000 cases reported Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s almost three times more than at the end of March.
The seven-day median hospital rate also rose 20%, with the CDC reporting an average of 2,215 hospitals in the past seven days, from last week’s average of 1,845.
This decrease in deaths is partly due to the fact that the currently dominant variants are less lethal and vaccination rates are higher in the United States, Drs. Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulan University, at HuffPost. the HuffPost. This week, approximately 66% of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
“Pre-existing immunity allows your body to deal with infection better, but these options are so contagious that you may not be able to control the infection,” he says.
And the omicron dominant sub-variant BA.2, which currently makes up Almost 62% of cases., Seems to spread more easily than its predecessor, experts say, another sub-variant, BA.2.12.1 , is more contagious. BA.2.12.1 is spreading approximately 24% faster than BA.2 and, according to current data, could be the dominant option in the coming weeks, the data shows.
This increased transmission may be due to the fact that BA.2.12.1 is not just a mutation in the omicron variant BA.2, but two other mutations, Garry said.
“One of them improves virus replication (S704L). The second (L452Q) forces him to fight previous immunity,” he said of the two extra protein mutations.
So BA.2.12.1 is more contagious. None of the omicron subtypes appear to cause more severe pain than the original omicron (BA.1). “BA.1 seems to be less severe than Delta, but again it is difficult to consider the role of pre-existing immunity,” he added.
“We have a very, very contagious option. It’s hard to make sure no one in the United States gets infected,” said Dr. Ashish Jahm, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, following news last week that there was a positive review. Vice President Kamala Harris for coronavirus, which has been fully vaccinated, and has doubled.
Health officials warn that while these current sub-variants may be less severe, they can cause long-term health problems.
“I think sometimes people say it’s good to be infected. “No, no, because there’s such a thing as chronic COVID, and sometimes there are people, even if they don’t need to be hospitalized – they get seriously ill,” said Dr. Anthony Fauch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious sick. He told ABC “this week” last month. “It’s not a fu-pooh thing.”
Elsewhere in the world, health officials are monitoring the spread of two unusual sub-variants of Omicron: BA.4 and BA.5.
Scientists in South Africa say these sub-variants, blamed on the rise of recent cases in the country, are.
“It’s too early to know if these new subtypes can cause more serious illness than other Omicron subtypes, but early data suggests that vaccination remains a safeguard against serious illness and death,” he said. by Dr. Tedros Adano Gebreius, Director General of the World Health Organization. Wednesday at the press conference.
Source: Huffpost
