The number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States has exceeded one million, and health experts have not peaked

The number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States is increasing by 1 million, has the epidemic peaked?

Just after the New Year's holiday, according to the compilation of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, on January 4, local time, the United States recorded 1.08 million new infections, which is not only twice the single-day new record just set by the United States a week ago, but also broke the single-day new record of all countries in the world.

Over the past week, the U.S. has averaged 480,000 new cases per day, nearly doubling the peak of the winter surge in 2020. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the number of hospitalizations due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 on Jan. 4, an increase of 51% in the past two weeks.

According to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 95.4 percent of infections were caused by the Amiqueron strain in the week ending Jan. 1. In the week ended December 25, 2021, that number was only 77 percent, and another week ahead, it was only 38 percent.

CdC announced that it will shorten the waiting time for receiving Pfizer boosters after a full two-dose vaccination to five months. Previously, the US federal government recommended that after receiving two doses of the vaccine, it is necessary to wait six months before receiving the booster injection.

Huang Yanzhong, senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations, professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University and director of the Center for Global Health Studies, said in an interview with First Financial Reporter that as Ami kerong becomes the dominant strain and spreads very quickly, the probability of infection will increase significantly. "Because the existing two-shot vaccine is less effective in avoiding infection, the basic expectation now is that in the next few weeks or two or three months, there will be an explosive increase in the United States and other Western countries, when all Americans may be exposed to the virus infection." He said.

"Massive amounts of data crash the system"

According to U.S. public health experts, the current reported case data in the United States is still underestimated compared to the number of real infections. Beth Blauer, head of data at johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 Resource Center, said: "The case data now is diluted by all the complex factors. ”

For example, during the holidays, many states slowed down reporting on key COVID-19 indicators and only began to catch up after the holidays. In addition, the Omiljun strain has also triggered a surge in testing demand, forcing processing in some places to slow down, and the results of home testing by residents are often not included in state-level data.

Six states failed to report data this week, according to U.S. media reports, including Georgia, which said it was because "a lot of data crashed the system."

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently said there is evidence that the disease caused by the Omiljung strain is less serious. But public health officials warn that the large number of cases caused by the Olmiqueron strain threatens to overwhelm hospitals. Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and Washington, D.C. have reported record numbers of COVID-19 inpatients in recent days.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maryland has more than fivefold in seven weeks to an all-time high of more than 3,000 people. Gov. Larry Hogan declared a 30-day state of emergency on the 4th and mobilized 1,000 Members of the National Guard to participate in epidemic prevention. "The next four to six weeks will be the most challenging period for the outbreak," Hogan predicted, adding that hospitalizations could exceed 5,000, well above last year's peak of 1,952.

On Jan. 4, the U.S. reported a seven-day average of 1,236 COVID-19 deaths, a figure that has remained relatively unchanged in recent weeks. However, death reports tend to lag by 3 to 5 weeks from cases, meaning that deaths from the Omiljun strain may not appear in reports until late January this year.

The epidemic in the United States has not yet peaked

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's chief medical adviser, said the U.S. is now facing a "straight-up" in the number of cases, with the high peak still to be seen in a few weeks' time. Fauci warned that "a significant number of the tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans" would be infected with serious diseases.

On Jan. 4, U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged that he was "concerned and greatly troubled by the rising number of cases," but he also stressed that the main group of hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. are currently unvaccinated people, and that there are currently enough doses available to all citizens in the United States.

Previously, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer's new coronavirus oral drug Paxlovid. Huang Yanzhong said that this oral drug can avoid a run on medical resources to a certain extent. "We are now at a critical juncture, and with the massive invasion of the Olmikeron strain, it has become the dominant strain. The biggest concern at the moment is that cases will become severe after infection and accumulate in large quantities, thus causing a huge impact on the health care system, which is what we often call a resource run. But now with the new crown oral medicine, you can take it at home, you don't need to go to the hospital for treatment, which can alleviate the pressure in the hospital to a certain extent. He said.

In his speech on Tuesday, Biden announced that according to US media reports, the Biden administration is doubling down on the purchase of Paxlovid, with orders doubled from 10 million to 20 million doses of treatment. But Krishna Udayakumar, a professor of hygiene at Duke University, warned that production of the oral drug will take months, meaning the U.S. won't see additional orders for at least six months, but "we need to have tests, and we know we don't have enough, timely tests." Treatment must also be started as early as possible in order to have a positive outcome."

"Although we have some tools, such as vaccines and diagnostic tests and treatments, we have not yet built a system that is strong enough to put it all in place," Udayakuma said. ”