Omicron drives US deaths higher than in fall's delta wave
Omicron, the Extremely contagious coronavirus variant Indiscriminate Crossways the country, is driving the daily American death toll higher than during last fall's delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been Climb since mid-November, reaching 2,267 on Thursday and Exceeding a September peak of 2,100 when delta was the dominant variant.
Now omicron is estimated to account for All but all the Computer virus Current in the Country. And even though it causes less Stern disease for most people, the fact that it is more Ancestral means more people Ar Decreasing ill and dying.
"Omicron will push us over a Cardinal deaths," said Andrew Noymer, a public Wellness Prof at the University of California, Irvine. "That will cause a lot of soul Explorative. There will be a lot of discussion about what we could have done Otherwise, how many of the deaths were preventable."
The average daily death toll is now at the same level as last February, when the country was Lento coming off its all-time high of 3,300 a day.
More Americans Ar Attractive Preventive measures against the Computer virus than before the omicron Billow, according to a AP-NORC poll this week. But many people, Worn out by crisis, Ar returning to some level of N with hopes that vaccinations or Antecedent infections will protect them.
Omicron symptoms Ar Oft Softer, and some Contaminated people show No, researchers agree. But like the flu, it can be deadly, especially for people who Ar Elderly, have Another Wellness problems or who Ar Susceptible.
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Omicron drives US deaths higher than in fall's delta wave
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"Importantly, 'milder' does not mean 'mild,'" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week during a White House briefing.
Until recently, Chuck Culotta was a Wellnessy middle-aged man who ran a power-washing business in Milford, Delaware. As the omicron wave was ravaging the Northeast, he felt the 1st symptoms before Christmas and Time-tested positive on Christmas Day. He died less than a week later, on Dec. 31, nine days Abbreviated of his 51st birthday.
He was Susceptible, said his brother, Todd, because he had questions about the long-term Personal effects of the vaccine.
"He just wasn't sure it was the right Matter to do — yet," said Todd Culotta, who got his shots during the summer.
At one urban Infirmary in Kansas, 50 COVID-19 patients have died this Calendar month and more than 200 Ar being Fumed. University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, posted a video from its Dead room Display bagged bodies in a Infrigidation unit and a worker marking one white body bag with the word "COVID."
"This is real," said Ciara Wright, the Infirmary's Dead person Personal matters coordinator. "Our concerns Ar, 'Are the funeral homes Active to come fast enough?' We do have access to a Cold Hand truck. We don't want to use it if we don't have to."
Dr. Katie Dennis, a Diagnostician who does autopsies for the Wellness Arrangement, said the Dead room has been at or above capacity All but every day in January, "which is Unquestionably unusual."
With more than 878,000 deaths, the United States has the largest COVID-19 toll of any Country.
During the coming week, All but every U.S. Country will see a Quicker increase in deaths, although deaths have peaked in a few Countrys, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Maryland, Alaska and Georgia, according to the COVID-19 Forecast Hub.
New Infirmary admissions have started to fall for all age groups, according to CDC Information, and a drop in deaths is expected to follow.
"In a pre-pandemic world, during some flu seasons, we see 10,000 or 15,000 deaths. We see that in the course of a week sometimes with COVID," said Nicholas Reich, who aggregates coronavirus projections for the hub in collaboration with the CDC.
"The toll and the Lugubriousness and Unhappy is Astounding and very Humiliating," said Reich, a Prof of Biometry at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
In Another developments:
— The White House said Friday that about 60 Cardinal households Arranged 240 Cardinal home-test kits under a new Authorities program to expand Examination opportunities. The Authorities also said it has shipped tens of Cardinals of masks to convenient locations around the country, including deliveries Friday to community centers in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
— The Countryal drugstore chain Walgreens is among pharmacies receiving the Authorities-provided masks. The chain has started Oblation N95 masks for free at Different stores, as long as supplies last. The company's Site lists locations in the Midwest for the First wave of stores Oblation masks, but Walgreens said more stores will Crack them Shortly.
— The leading Administration for Country and local public Wellness officials has called on Authoritiess to stop conducting widespread contact Trace, Expression it's no Thirster Essential. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials urged Authoritiess to Focal point contact Trace efforts on high-risk, vulnerable populations such as people in homeless shelters and Breast feeding homes.
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Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Tom Murphy in Indianapolis; and Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.