Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Omicron Dominates New Cases, Strain On Some ICUs May Be Easing
CBS News: Omicron Now 95% Of New COVID-19 Infections In U.S., CDC Estimates
The Omicron variant made up around 95.4% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an updated estimate published on Tuesday. Only two regions of the U.S. — New England and part of the Midwest — have yet to reach 90% locally. The Delta variant, which was dominant up until a few weeks ago, makes up nearly all the other cases. (Tin, 1/4)
CBS News: Children Represent 17.7% Of COVID-19 Cases As U.S. Sees Record High For Weekly Cases
The United States recorded more than 3 million new COVID-19 cases this past week, a record high for weekly cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. As schools and businesses determine whether to resume in-person learning in the new year, children's cases are also up, with 325,340 cases in the week between December 23 and December 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. That week, children represented 17.7% of the reported cases in the U.S. (O'Kane, 1/4)
But pressure may be easing in intensive-care units —
The New York Times: In Omicron Hot Spots, Hospitals Fill Up, But I.C.U.S May Not
In hospitals around the country, doctors are taking notice: This wave of Covid seems different from the last one. Once again, as they face the highly contagious Omicron variant, medical personnel are exhausted and are contracting the virus themselves. And the numbers of patients entering hospitals with the variant are surging to staggering levels, filling up badly needed beds, delaying nonemergency procedures and increasing the risk that vulnerable uninfected patients will catch the virus. But in Omicron hot spots from New York to Florida to Texas, a smaller proportion of those patients are landing in intensive care units or requiring mechanical ventilation, doctors said. (Anthes and Ghorayshi, 1/4)
Bloomberg: Covid-19: Omicron Spares U.S. ICUs So Far, Mirroring South Africa
U.S. hospitals are so far seeing significantly fewer severe outcomes from the omicron wave than they saw in past Covid-19 spikes, mirroring the experience of South Africa and the U.K. Even New York, the uber-dense site of one of the nation’s worst outbreaks, is seeing similar results. The U.S. is reporting a weekly average of 485,363 cases, about twice the peak of last winter, and true prevalence is projected to be far higher. But U.S. hospitals have just 64% of the Covid patients in adult intensive-care beds as they did at last winter’s peak, and hospital deaths with Covid are around 52% of last winter’s worst period. (Levin, 1/4)
Reuters: WHO Sees More Evidence That Omicron Causes Milder Symptoms
More evidence is emerging that the Omicron coronavirus variant is affecting the upper respiratory tract, causing milder symptoms than previous variants and resulting in a "decoupling" in some places between soaring case numbers and low death rates, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday. "We are seeing more and more studies pointing out that Omicron is infecting the upper part of the body. Unlike other ones, the lungs who would be causing severe pneumonia," WHO Incident Manager Abdi Mahamud told Geneva-based journalists. (Farge and Roy, 1/4)
Dr. Fauci says people should turn their focus to hospitalizations, not case counts —
USA Today: Hospitalization Numbers Reflect COVID Vaccine Effectiveness: Experts
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that with many infections causing few or no symptoms, “it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases.” Those hospital admissions averaged 14,800 per day last week, up 63% from the week before. That's still short of the peak of 16,500 per day a year ago when the vast majority of the U.S. was unvaccinated. Deaths have been stable over the past two weeks at an average of about 1,200 per day, well below the all-time high of 3,400 last January. Other experts argue that case counts are still a cause for concern in their own right. (Thornton, 1/5)
AP: COVID Case Counts May Be Losing Importance Amid Omicron
The explosive increase in U.S. coronavirus case counts is raising alarm, but some experts believe the focus should instead be on COVID-19 hospital admissions. And those aren’t climbing as fast. Dr. Anthony Fauci, for one, said Sunday on ABC that with many infections causing few or no symptoms, “it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases.” Other experts argue that case counts still have value. (Johnson, 1/5)
