The Omicron variant is going to make the start of 2022 difficult as infections surge and hospitals grapple with the most contagious strain of coronavirus yet, health experts say.
CNN started: “January is going to be a really, really hard month. And people should just brace themselves for a month where lots of people are going to get infected,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. An average of 237,061 new Covid-19 cases were reported each day over the past week, according to Monday data from Johns Hopkins University.
Some predict the US will soon blow past its record for daily new cases — 251,988, set on January 11th. KTVZ reported that some predict the US will soon blow past its record for daily new cases — 251,988, set on January 11. “I think we’re going to see half a million cases a day — easy — sometime over the next week to 10 days,”
CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner told CNN Sunday. Most people who are vaccinated and boosted won’t get severe illness, but that won’t be true for the unvaccinated, Jha said. “A lot of people who have not gotten a vaccine are going to end up getting pretty sick, and it’s going to be pretty disruptive,” Jha said.
“My hope is as we get into February and certainly by the time we get into March, infection numbers will come way down, and it’ll also start getting (into) spring, and the weather will start getting better. And that will also help.” People can protect themselves by getting vaccinated and boosted and taking precautions in public, Jha said.
“I would urge people to wear a higher quality mask any time they’re in a place with lots of people and they’re going to be indoors for any extended period of time,” Jha said. A surgical mask might be fine for a quick grocery store trip in an empty store, but for other events, a well-fitting N95 or KF94 mask provides better protection, he said.
