Covid deaths in the US doubled last week and cases rose 24%

After more than a month of little exercise, daily Covid infections and deaths are starting to rise in the United States, suggesting that a summer surge fueled by the BA.5 variant may now continue.

There are an average of 649 Covid deaths per day in the US, 97% more than last week. This is the largest increase in deaths in seven days since the beginning of December.

Recorded infections also rise to 136,903 per day. It’s a 24% increase in seven days and the highest daily average since February when America emerged from the biggest Covid wave of the pandemic.

These strong increases are attributed to the BA.5 variant. A highly contagious strain of the virus that is rapidly taking over as the dominant strain in the United States.

While no further search warrants regarding the virus are planned in the near future, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading expert on infectious diseases, once again urged Americans to wear masks at closed public gatherings on Tuesday.

5 strain currently accounts for 65% of active cases in the United States, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

†[BA.5 is] It’s definitely something we should take seriously. “The dominant has a transmission advantage over the previous variant,” Fauci told MSNBC †.

The variant is considered the most contagious form of Omicron to have emerged to date. Early data from South Africa, where it was first discovered, also shows that it can recover from natural Covid immunity caused by a previous infection.

This is especially dangerous because many people who thought they were temporarily protected from Covid from a previous infection suddenly become vulnerable again.

It came with variant BA.4, which was also discovered in South Africa earlier this year and now accounts for 16% of cases, according to CDC data.

The BA 2.12.1 variant, which was dominant before BA.5, now accounts for only 17% of cases and is being wiped out by two new species.

The rapid spread of the two new strains and the rising cases associated with them has prompted officials like Fauci to recommend to Americans the cancellation of certain Covid measures they may have already been aware of over the past few years.

“Everyone wants to leave this epidemic behind, feel it and hope it doesn’t exist. The good news is that we have the skills and tools to deal with it, and we need to use those tools,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

‘For example, get vaccinated if you haven’t been vaccinated. If you’re ready for a booster, buy a booster.

“And if you’re in an area with high infection dynamics – and you’ve talked about imposing something – but advising people while you’re inside, get together and wear a mask.” These are simple and achievable things that can keep us from having more problems than we have now.

Booster vaccines will likely include newly formulated vaccines targeting the Omicron variant, as vaccine manufacturers aim to launch new vaccines in the coming months.

The shots currently available are formulated to combat the original strain of the Wuhan virus that broke out worldwide in early 2020.

The virus has mutated significantly since then, and the Omicron variant family has the ability to evade the infection protection these hits offer.

However, some experts do not agree that customized Omicron injections are necessary, as the protection against serious infection, hospitalization, and death that the original injections provide is still effective against the highly contagious strain.

The states that have suffered the most in this latest wave of Covid are New Mexico and Nevada. Both desert states have a daily average of 0.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

Daily Covid infections – a figure that often precedes the increase in deaths by a few months – are increasing the most in North Carolina, where daily infections have doubled in the past week.

Fauci pointed to the New York area as a virus-specific hotspot and even the first to hit the next wave of the virus, as it often does during the pandemic.

According to the most recent data available, the number of cases in the Empire State has increased by 26% in the last two weeks.

In New York, daily infections rose 28%, although hospitalization and death rates remained limited due to the city’s high vaccination rate.

Dr. Jay Varma, former public health adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio, warned last week that BA.5 could be the cause of the rising number of cases in the country’s largest city, and it could be a sign of a new disease. to increase.

‘Report drop’ [COVID-19] Cases stopped in New York. The reported cases are on a high plateau, meaning the actual transmission is very high considering the number below >20x. “This will likely be the start of a BA.5 wave,” he said.

The US often lags behind the UK during the pandemic and is experiencing the same trends just a few weeks later.

The European country was already facing a Covid spike from BA.5, and an analysis by MailOnline suggests that the peak may have already reached its peak.

Hospital admissions attributed to the virus are increasing by about 20% per week, with the previous weekly rate increasing by 40% per week, according to NHS data.