Government leaders and advisers are assessing how best to respond to a surge of new Covid-19 infections from the fast-spreading Omicron variant, with the U.S. looking at ways to minimize staff shortages and prevent hospitals from becoming overrun with new cases, while Israel has begun testing a fourth shot of Covid-19 vaccine on medical personnel.
Initial evidence suggests the Omicron variant, first identified by South African epidemiologists last month, produced a milder disease than earlier Covid-19 strains, particularly in people who have been vaccinated.
But the speed with which it is spreading is presenting a different kind of challenge for policy makers, who are now weighing how to keep critical services functioning amid a wave of staff absences and enforced isolation periods.
The seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. reached 198,405 on Sunday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. Many states haven’t reported new infections on some recent days because of the Christmas holidays. Those gaps and subsequent jumps as states bring recent infection data up-to-date are expected to complicate tracking of the Omicron variant’s spread for some time, public-health experts said.
As of Monday, the seven-day average of patients in American hospital beds with confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases—including the Omicron and Delta variants—was above 71,000, according to the latest data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Flight cancellations in the U.S. continued early Monday as inclement weather combined with Covid-19-driven airline staff shortages that marred the Christmas weekend for many travelers.
Data tracker FlightAware reported more than 900 cancellations by midmorning—around 5% of scheduled services—compared with more than 1,500 on Sunday, as some problems eased from the weekend.
Daily reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S.
Note: For all 50 states and D.C., U.S. territories and cruises. Last updated
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week revised its isolation and quarantine guidelines for healthcare workers who contract the virus—allowing them to go back to work after seven days, instead of 10 days, following a negative test. Other countries, including England, have made similar moves.
President Biden on Monday said his administration was working to address the testing shortage fueled by…
Read More: As Omicron Spreads, Governments Race to Ease Staff Shortages