The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States skyrocketed this past week while the rates of hospitalizations and deaths increased slightly.
According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average number of new COVID-19 cases are now sitting at about 240,000 a day, almost 100,000 more than a week ago. The figures include the more than 400,000 new cases reported on Dec. 27.
The total number of new COVID-19 cases for the week that ended Dec. 12 was listed at more than 1.4. million, an increase of 55 percent from the previous week.
Deaths attributed to COVID-19 for the same time period were listed at 10,153, a jump of 11 percent from a week ago.
Hospitalizations are sitting at about 69,000, around 5,000 more than late last week. New York has the most, with more than 4,700 people hospitalized for COVID-19. Ohio is right behind with more than 4,600 hospitalizations.
Meanwhile, the 7-day average of vaccine doses administered in the United States is slightly more than 1.5 million, around the same as a week ago.
Overall, the United States has reported 53 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States have now surpassed 820,000.
Experts say that the pandemic isn’t behind us yet, and they’re concerned about potential surges from Thanksgiving travel, colder weather, and the Omicron variant that was first identified in late November.
“I definitely think we could see more increases as cold weather hits,” Dr. Jamila Taylor, director of healthcare reform and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, told Healthline.
“Another factor is holiday travel. We are in the thick of it. Omicron is spreading and Delta remains the dominant, deadlier variant. More Americans are traveling, domestically and internationally, so we are not yet out of the woods. Not by a long shot.
“The best we can all do is continue to mask up, practice good hygiene, and be smart about distancing ourselves. For those who have yet to get vaccinated or boosted, it is of urgent importance that they do so,” Taylor said.
“The COVID picture varies across the country,” added Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
“In some locations, the increase in case numbers has leveled off. In other locations, cases continue to rise. Well over 90 percent of new infections continue to be caused by the Delta variant. Although Omicron is being detected in a growing number of states, it still is responsible for a small minority of cases.
“There is no doubt that Omicron is highly contagious, so its presence is likely to become more prominent going into the holidays. COVID has thrown us so many curves that it has become perilous to predict its behavior.
“That said, all the holiday travel, family get-togethers, as well as colder weather driving us indoors are going to provide environments conducive to the spread of both Delta and Omicron. Celebrate with care,” Schaffner told Healthline.
When might we see the end of the pandemic, and what might life look like, at least in the United States?
“It is hard to even envision this thing being completely eliminated,” Taylor said. “Even if the virus itself were to be eliminated, the effects will be seen over the long term, for sure. The economic, mental, and physical health effects of COVID-19 have changed the lives of millions of people.”
“The COVID virus will not disappear,” Schaffner added. “We will have to learn how to cope with it as we do with influenza. We may need periodic booster doses of COVID vaccine, but that interval has yet to be determined.”
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