Covid surges across US after holidays amid low booster uptake
Covid surges across US after holidays amid low booster uptake
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Test positivity, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing as expert warns: ‘It’s still dangerous’. Covid is once again surging across the US after an unusual relative lull over the fall, as rates of booster vaccinations remain stubbornly low.
Continuing infections and the evolution of variants underscore the importance of vaccinating, tracking the ebbs and flows of Covid, and employing preventive measures like face masks and clean air – important tools that could undergo greater politicization in coming months and years.
“The Covid pandemic is still ongoing. It’s still dangerous,” said Jeffrey Townsend, Elihu Professor of Biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. “As this new administration comes about, everyone in public health and in public health communication has to be just exceedingly clear” about the state of Covid and measures to combat it in order to minimize misinformation and the potential lack of information, he said.
Test positivity, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths from Covid are all increasing, and wastewater monitoring indicates the rates first started ticking up a month ago. Only one in five (21.4%) of adults and one in 10 (10.3%) of children have gotten the newest Covid booster, which became available in late August.
