New York, Dec. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "EU COVID-19 Vaccine and Therapeutics Insights, Trends, and Growth Opportunities" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06192553/?utm_source=GNW
Importantly, the study identifies actionable growth opportunities for industry participants.Like the United States, the European Union received criticism for vaccine nationalism, but it is taking steps to encourage global vaccine access.
It has launched the Team Europe initiative for improving manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines, and health technologies in Africa.Initiatives such as the EU Digital Vaccination Passport and UK NHS COVID Pass app will help Europe in safe reopening and overcoming COVID-19 variants of concern to a certain extent. Although vaccinations are progressing at a fast pace, factors that will determine campaigns future course include political and religious situations, vaccine availability and access, and vaccine hesitancy specifically in younger population groups. The low vaccination rate in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is fueling another COVID-19 surge (especially because of the Delta variant) and causing a healthcare crisis in Bulgaria, Romania and Latvia.Topics covered include: Analyses of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics Strategies of vaccine manufacturers to scale up their global manufacturing network COVID-19 vaccination rollouts The role of digital technology in the COVID-19 battle The Growth Opportunity Universe Author: Surbhi GuptaRead the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06192553/?utm_source=GNW
About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
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Maine National Guard members arriving for orientation at Central Maine Medical Center, in Lewiston, Maine, this month. Their mission is to bolster medical staff in anticipation of a rapid increase in patients because of coronavirus infections.Credit...Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press
The highly transmissible Omicron virus variant is sending daily U.S. caseloads soaring to levels higher than last years winter pandemic peak.
Hospitalizations are starting to tick up, too, although not at the same rate as cases. It is unclear if they will continue to follow the rise in cases, especially given evidence in South Africa and Europe that Omicron may cause fewer severe cases of Covid.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The seven-day average is the average of a day and the previous six days of data. Currently hospitalized is the most recent number of patients with Covid-19 reported by hospitals in the state for the four days prior. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government. Holiday interruptions to testing and data reporting may affect case and death trends.
On Friday, before holiday interruptions to data reporting began to affect the nations daily case totals, the seven-day national average of new daily cases surpassed 197,000, a 65 percent jump over the last 14 days, and hospitalizations reached a seven-day average of more than 70,000, an increase of 10 percent. Deaths also increased by 3 percent during that time, to a seven-day average of 1,345, according to a New York Times database.
The national all-time high for average daily cases is 251,232, set in January during a post-holiday surge.
Source: State and local health agencies. Daily cases are the number of new cases reported each day. The seven-day average is the average of the most recent seven days of data. Holiday interruptions to testing and data reporting may affect case and death trends.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said a growing body of evidence suggested that Omicron was causing less serious illness than its predecessors. But he warned against complacency, saying the variants lightning-speed spread across the United States would likely lead to a perilous spike in hospitalizations among the unvaccinated and could overwhelm the countrys health systems.
When you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity, Dr. Fauci said during an interview on ABCs This Week.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency earlier this month and put elective surgeries on pause at many hospitals. This week, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts said he would activate up to 500 members of the National Guard to help in overburdened hospitals. Many other states have done the same.
From Dec. 5, there has been a fourfold increase of Covid hospital admissions among children in New York City, where the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly, the New York State Department of Health said in an advisory on Friday. About half were under the age of 5, and not eligible for vaccination. The city did not provide numbers, but state data showed a few dozen children under 5 were hospitalized across the state as of Thursday.
The jump in pediatric cases is evident in other states as well. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported last week that Covid cases were extremely high among those under 18 across the country. Citing data as of Dec. 16, the academy said that cases among those under 18 had risen by 170,000 from the prior week, an increase of nearly 28 percent since early December. Pediatric cases are higher than ever before in the Northeast and Midwest, the data show, and all regions of the country have significantly more such cases since schools reopened for in-person instruction in the fall.
Even with the rising cases, government data show that vaccination is still a strong protector against severe illness. Unvaccinated people are five times more likely to test positive and 14 times more likely to die of Covid than vaccinated patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Promising data out of South Africa and other European countries have also shown that Omicron surges have been milder and with fewer hospitalizations.
The new research is heartening, but experts warn that the surge coming to many countries still may flood hospitals.
Each place has its own demographics and health care system access and, you know, vaccine distribution, Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist and researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, said in an interview on Saturday. She added that people in England, Scotland and South Africa could have acquired enough immunity from other infections to be able to deal with this variant, or that there could be intrinsic differences in the pathogenicity of Omicron that results in fewer people needing to be hospitalized.
We cannot assume the same things will happen to the U.S., Dr. Iwasaki said. That is not a reason to relax our measures here, and we still need to vaccinate those pockets of people who are unvaccinated.
After choosing not to impose more restrictions before the New Year, England remains an outlier among the four nations.
Professor Andrew Watterson, a public health expert, has said there are "real causes for concern" here.
"It's very strange, because if we're looking at the evidence then just before Christmas, the English COVID rate per 100,000 was way, way above anything in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland," he told Sky News.
"So on that basis, I think you'd be looking for more precaution, more prevention, and practical action based on the evidence and that's not coming."
He continued that COVID numbers are still going up and things can "change very rapidly indeed".
"I think there are real causes for concern about England not being guided by the science," he said.
By Denise Dunbar | [emailprotected]
Alexandria is experiencing a spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19 that is unprecedented since the citys first residents were diagnosed back in March 2020. In the three-week period from Nov. 30 to Dec. 21, confirmed cases have risen almost tenfold, despite the citys high overall vaccination rate.
Back on Nov. 30, Alexandria was in the substantial transmission rate, with 56 cases reported during the preceding seven days per 100,000 residents. That number tripled in one week, to 152.1 cases per 100,000 residents by Dec. 7 and placing Alexandria back in the high transmission category, according to the City of Alexandria COVID-19 data page.
By Tuesday, the last day for which data was available, that number had swelled to 551.1 total confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. The citys 7-day moving average of daily confirmed actual cases (not per 100,000 residents) rose almost tenfold during those three weeks, from 13.1 per day on Nov. 30 to 129 by Dec. 21.
The data indicates that this number is still surging, as on Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Health website reported that 257 cases not a moving average and not per 100,000 residents of COVID-19 were reported as confirmed or probable in Alexandria in the preceding 24 hours. If the infection rate continues at this level for the next week, there would be 1,799 new cases of COVID-19 in Alexandria over that timeframe. If the infection rate continues to rise the number could be much higher.
This case spike is surprising given Alexandrias relatively high vaccination rate. In Alexandria, 79.1% of residents ages 5 and up have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 68.5% were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to the City of Alexandrias website.
Alexandrias vaccination rate is slightly higher than that of Virginia as a whole, where 76.5% of residents are partially and 67.1% are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Virginias rate topped the overall United States rate of 74% with at least one dose and 62% who are fully vaccinated as of Sunday, according to USAFacts.org.
There is no available data at this time on the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 who are vaccinated versus unvaccinated.
VDH data reveals that this is the third major spike of COVID-19 cases, with a couple of mini-surges, since the pandemic began almost two years ago.
This surge, which began right after Thanksgiving and with the arrival of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, follows one in March through May 2020 and one that occurred during the holidays in 2020. Its the steepest and largest surge in number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
There are three significant caveats to this leap in case totals, which could somewhat mitigate the alarming data: the positivity rate for COVID-19 tests, the impact that vaccinations will have on severe cases of COVID-19 and whether the Omicron variant causes less severe cases of COVID-19.
Confirmed case totals are a function of both how many people are tested as well as the positivity rate. Because free PCR tests for COVID-19, which are considered more reliable than rapid home tests, are now so readily available, more overall tests are being given than at the start of the pandemic. If more people who are perhaps asymptomatic are tested, then case totals will rise.
Widespread testing, however, was widely available when the December 2020 surge began, and case totals then did not reach the current levels.
Alexandrias COVID-19 positivity rate was 8.6% as of Dec. 18, the most recent date for which data was available on the VDH website. This remains significantly below the peak positivity rate of 13.3% recorded on Jan. 2, 2021,* though it is the highest recorded rate since Jan. 23, 2021. To put the current positivity rate into perspective, it means that more than 91% of people who are currently receiving PCR COVID-19 tests do not have the virus.
Hospitalization and death rates remain relatively low in Alexandria, as there has been one reported death from COVID-19 since Nov. 30. There has been an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past couple of weeks, and three additional people were hospitalized on Tuesday, but so far the rise in hospitalizations more closely mirrors the mini-surge of cases in late September and early October 2021 than the major spike this time last year.
Hospitalizations and deaths have typically lagged several weeks behind case surges, however, and the relatively stable hospitalization and death rates may be due to the fact that the current surge has happened so quickly.
There is insufficient data to draw clear conclusions about the severity of the Omicron variant, though a Reuters report this week said early data from the United Kingdom indicates Omicron is not causing less severe COVID-19 than the Delta variant there.
*Much higher positivity rates were recorded in late March to early April 2020, when COVID-19 tests were scarce and only people with observable symptoms were being tested.
Santa won't be water skiing at Alexandria's waterfront this year after an uptick of COVID-19 cases in Virginia, according to a Facebook post from the company.
Santa wont be water skiing at Alexandrias waterfront this year after an uptick of COVID-19 cases in Virginia, according to a Facebook post from the Waterskiing Santa event organizers.
Waterskiing Santa has put on a live show for 35 years, but this year, the audience will have to watch past shows from home with a cup of hot chocolate in hand.
Santa, Mrs. Claus, Frosty the Snowman along with the Jet Skiing Grinch any many, many friends, have been working hard to make sure everyone stays safe, the company wrote on Facebook.
The event typically takes place the Old Town waterfront. But it was canceled based off of the Alexandria Health Departments recommendation, and the City of Alexandrias agreement, to avoid gathering in crowds as cases go up.
Mrs. Claus works with the various permits and sponsors to ensure we have a great show with their support. To move the show at this late date is not feasible. I am sorry! Moreover, Rudolph is on the roof threatening to cover his nose with the tar so I have to run and talk him down, Papa Noel wrote in the companys Facebook post.
The most recent show, from 2020, can be watched on the companys YouTube.
The First Night in Alexandria events were also canceled but a 10-minute firework show will still go on at midnight on New Years Eve over the Potomac.
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A line of people wait for COVID-19 testing at a D.C. Health- organized walk-up testing site at Farragut Square on Dec. 23, just blocks from the White House in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption
A line of people wait for COVID-19 testing at a D.C. Health- organized walk-up testing site at Farragut Square on Dec. 23, just blocks from the White House in Washington.
Washington, D.C., is experiencing a major pandemic surge making it the highest-risk place for COVID infection in the nation.
D.C. experienced an average of 1,192 new cases per day for the week, and 169 cases per 100,000 people as of Monday, according to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Despite relatively high vaccination rates, D.C. is experiencing a surge due to several factors, according to Dr. Neil J. Sehgal, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
"I suspect what we are seeing in DC is the collision of increased opportunity for transmission due to the demographics of the District, a missed policy opportunity to prevent transmission, and the transmission dynamics of omicron while vaccinated people are less likely to contract or transmit, with omicron clearly both are happening," he told NPR.
Demographically, the D.C. area skews younger than the rest of the country, with about 50% of residents of the District between the ages of 20 and 49. Maryland and Virginia, which are experiencing a similar surge, have about 4 in 10 residents in the same age category.
"Before vaccines were available, we learned that transmission in the United States was largely driven by adults 20 to 49 years of age," Sehgal said. "People age 20-49 are simply more transmission-efficient."
That's thanks to an increased likelihood of in-person work, a greater likelihood of household transmission due to raising young children, and a greater chance of socializing outside the home, particularly during the holidays, he said.
COVID-19 test site lead Nardos Amare checks in a patient for a COVID test outside Benning Stoddert Recreation Center on Dec. 23 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption
COVID-19 test site lead Nardos Amare checks in a patient for a COVID test outside Benning Stoddert Recreation Center on Dec. 23 in Washington, D.C.
Like many places around the country, the hunt for an at-home COVID test in the District meant long lines. The city started distributing free test kits to residents prior to the holidays as COVID case numbers reached new highs, alongside offering on-site testing.
D.C. COVID-19 public testing sites are set to be closed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but the city will still be distributing test kits at select locations.
An indoor mask mandate would have helped cut down on transmission before they got so bad, Sehgal said. But the city dropped the requirement in November (it had a mask and social distancing advisory in place instead).
Sehgal said he and other health experts called on Mayor Muriel Bowser to bring the mandate back when cases began rising in the District just after Thanksgiving.
"We know now that omicron was circulating alongside delta at that time, and the reluctance to keep reasonable, science-based precautions in place seeded the transmission that we are seeing today," Sehgal said. "At that point we were on the 'flat' part of the exponential growth curve, but with every infected person passing the virus on to more than one other person on average, you can see how cases would continue to climb."
Now, the city has again cracked down on requirements for masks and vaccines. On Dec. 21, the city brought the mask mandate back through at least Jan. 31. At the time Bowser said she did not regret having dropped the mandate earlier and that "as conditions warranted, we've changed our interventions, and we are changing them again."
Starting Jan. 15, D.C. businesses including restaurants, bars, gyms, and music venues, and certain meeting spaces will be required to ask patrons ages 12 and older for proof of vaccination to enter. When enforcement begins, patrons will only need to show proof of one shot to enter. By Feb. 15, two shots will be required for entry.
For the latest on the coronavirus in the D.C. area, follow member station WAMU's coverage here.
Demand for COVID-19 tests surges nationwide
The COVID-19 omicron variant is spreading rapidly but research shows patients are less likely to be hospitalized with serious cases of the disease.
ATLANTA - COVID-19s omicron wave is rapidly pushing up the number of patients infected with the virus in Georgia hospitals, particularly in the Atlanta area.
The number of patients hospitalized statewide with the virus has climbed by more than 50% in a week, rising above 1,900 on Monday. Thats the highest number since mid-October, when patient numbers were still falling after hitting a state record of more than 6,000 in early September.
The seven-day average of COVID-19 cases in Georgia rose to nearly 8,700 a day on Monday, according to the state Public Health Department. Thats nearing the peaks that Georgia saw in infection numbers in early January and early September.
COVID-19 TESTING SCARCE IN GEORGIA
The share of positive molecular PCR tests hit an all-time high of almost 31% on Monday. Enough positive tests have been recorded to account for more than 1% of all residents across a 19-county metro Atlanta area in the past two weeks. Thats 2 1/2 times the rate of positive tests in Georgias other 140 counties in the same period.
The crush is being seen in Atlanta-area emergency rooms. As of Monday evening, 21 Atlanta-area emergency rooms were turning away ambulances, while only 10 ERs at hospitals caring for adults were receiving them, according to state data. Among those turning away emergency medical transports were the flagship hospitals of three of the areas four major hospital systems: Emory, Piedmont and Northside.
OMICRON VARIANT CONTINUESTO DRIVE UP NEW CASES IN GEORGIA
Officials are urging people who need testing not to tie up emergency rooms, but to instead seek out testing sites and pharmacies.
Dr. Danny Branstetter, director of infection prevention for the 10-hospital Wellstar Health System, said infections are spreading and manifesting symptoms at least as quickly and maybe more quickly as the delta variant.
There is a severe shortage of both in-person and at-home testing for COVID-19 as the latest surge hits.
"Hospitalizations are not rising as rapidly as previous surges," Branstetter said. "However, hospitalization is a lag from new diagnosis of infection. So we may see hospitalization start to increase in the next week or so, hopefully not to the same exponential rate.
Branstetter said there is "a potential" for hospital capacity to be exceeded, especially as health workers get sick themselves.
"Were seeing an increase spread amongst our healthcare providers now," he said. "So that maybe even limit our healthcare personnel available to provide care even further."
Branstetter said hes also worried about a limited supply of effective monoclonal antibodies, which had been an useful therapy during the delta wave. He and other officials said vaccination and booster shots remain the most effective way of preventing severe illness.
Katherine Watson, spokesperson for the five-hospital Northside system, said that COVID-19 patients accounted for 25% of the systems total adult inpatient population as of Monday.
Watson said the hospitals continue to manage bed capacity.
"We expect the increase to continue, but dont know yet what the full impact will be to our inpatient census," Watson said.
Deaths are also inching up, now averaging more than 20 a day. More than 31,000 people in Georgia have died from COVID-19, according to state numbers.
In a hospital district that includes Cobb, Cherokee, Douglas and Paulding counties, COVID-19 patients made up almost of a quarter of all patients on Monday, according to state data.
Amid overwhelming demand for COVID tests, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey warned people to make sure they are using a valid testing center and arent being overcharged.
"Misinformation from unapproved COVID tests could result in people not following isolation and quarantine protocols and lead to further transmission of the virus and serious or life-threatening illness," Toomey said in a statement.
They also warned against accepting services from people going to door-to-door or approaching others on the street and said it could be a sign of a scam if someone tries to charge for an in-person test.
Georgians can find some testing sites at https://dph.georgia.gov/covidtesting, although that list may not include many private testing sites.
Carr said his office is aware of reports of overcharging for tests and urges consumers to report potential price gouging at consumer.ga.gov or by calling 404-651-8600.
WATCH: FOX 5NEWS LIVE COVERAGE
Maine is reporting 1,423 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday the first new report of cases since Dec. 24 and 17 additional deaths.
Tuesdays case counts are the first since Dec. 24 as state offices were closed on Friday for the Christmas holiday, and the state does not report case counts over the weekend. Hospitalizations on Tuesday stayed the same as Monday, at 330 statewide, down from a peak of 387 on Dec. 21.
While 1,423 cases over four days would be far below recent state averages, the CDC has not been able to keep up with a flood of positive tests in recent weeks and its updates no longer reflect all new infections. Because of the backlog, many of the cases reported Tuesday were submitted to the state in mid-December and had to be reviewed by CDC staff to eliminate duplicates.
Public health experts say to expect case counts to rise with the arrival of the more contagious omicron variant, which made up 10 percent of samples that were sequenced at Jackson Laboratories in Maine from Dec. 12-18, up from 1 percent from the previous week.
Because omicron in other places has caused exponential growth, public health experts say to expect the same type of growth in Maine. Preliminary research is indicating that omicron causes less severe disease on average than earlier variants, although if theres a flood of cases all at once it could still further strain hospitals.
The rate of omicron transmission in Maine is faster than health officials had expected based on the spread elsewhere. Nationally, the omicron variant is dominant, making up 58 percent of cases as of Dec. 25, the latest federal data available. The previous weeks estimate of 72 percent of all U.S. cases has been revised downward to 22 percent.
Maine does seem to be going slightly faster at the initial rate, so I would say its either the dominant variant now or will be between now and the 30th, said Ryan Tewhey, who leads a team of researchers at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor that monitors coronavirus strains for the state, on Monday.
Maine health officialshave predicted the spread of omicronand urged people to continue to exercise COVID-19 precautions, including vaccinations, wearing masks indoors and avoiding large gatherings.
We have to assume it is growing and will probably grow quite exponentially, as it has everywhere else, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer for MaineHealth, on Monday.
But hospitalization reports from other countries deeper into the omicron wave hold potentially good news.
Report from UK on COVID hospitalizations: admissions are well below what was seen in prior waves, and on proportional basis, are significantly less relative to reported cases, said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner, in a tweet on Tuesday. Those people being admitted are also less severe, with fewer patients requiring oxygen or critical care.
Also, the Mills administration on Monday announced its support of new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations that reduced isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.
I welcome this change in guidance, Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement. Protecting the health of Maine people while minimizing disruption to their lives is paramount. With these updated recommendations, more Maine people will now be able to return to their lives safely and more quickly, and that can help us keep our economic recovery moving forward, keep our kids in schools, and be with our loved ones during this important time of year.
Since the pandemic began, Maine has reported 143,213 cases of COVID-19, and 1,492 deaths.
The seven-day average of daily new cases stood at 752 on Tuesday, compared to 939 a week ago and 399 a month ago. Hospitalizations on Tuesday stood at 330, the same as Mondays totals. There were 11o people in intensive care with COVID-19 on Tuesday, and 56 on a ventilator.
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The 3,500free COVID-19 test kits that arrived Monday at the Summit County health department were all given away in about two hours, despite a limit ofone kit per person.
Marlene Martin, administrative coordinator for Summit County Public Health, said the line to the health department'sAkron offices snakedfrom the door to West Market Street from the moment it announced the kits which each came with two tests insidewere available.
Local health officialsareordering more tests from from the state, but they have no idea when the kitsmight arrive.
The public and private testing shortagehas hit Northeast Ohio amid another pandemic surge, fueled at least in partby the omicron variant.
The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Summit County also edged up slightly after the long Christmas weekend to 302 on Monday.
Stay home for New Year's Eve?: In current winter surge, Ohio ranks near top in US for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations
To help ease the quest for tests,theOhio National Guardis joining with the healthdepartment and local hospitals tolaunch a free,drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Akron on Tuesday
It will be able tohandle 300 free tests per dayand will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily except Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
The testing site islocated at the Summa Health Corporate Office at 1077 Gorge Blvd. in Akron.
The test site will be open seven days a week beginning Jan. 2 and will remain open until there's no longer a demand.
But don't just show up there expecting a test. You must first register online for a time slot and there could be a wait.
Last week, when the Ohio National Guard opened a similar site in Cleveland,it was overwhelmed by people seeking tests andclosed early afterthree hours testing.
It has since implemented aregistration requirement aiming to cut wait times and avoid turning people away. The Akron site appears to be taking a lesson from Cleveland.
If you'd prefer to test at home, you might be searching for a test.
More home COVID testing: You took a home COVID-19 test and it's positive. Now what should you do?
Martin advised people to call local pharmacies to see if they have kits before traveling to a storeto buy one.
The rapid antigen home test kitswhich are often sold in pairs for about $22 are less sensitive than the PCRtests administered by many hospitals. If you take one during the earliest phase of an infection, before the virus has replicated widely, the test could return afalse negative, the New York Times has reported.
Yet some ofthe at-home rapid antigen tests catchabout85%of infections if the tests are done correctly. That, some public health experts have said, is a powerful tool to help people navigate the ongoing pandemic.
If you dotest positive at home, Summit County's health department wants you tofill out a form on its websiteto help track how widespread infections are here.
Cases last week were surging, Martin said, though it's unclear how many were omicron or the older variant, delta.From Dec. 22 through Dec. 24, Summit County reported between 1,026 and 1,116 new COVID cases per day.
Those numbers dropped over the weekend. On Christmas, there were 665 new cases and on Dec. 26, there were 756, Martin said.
It's unclear how much the holiday and the weekend may have contributed to the drop in numbers and whether they will rise again this week.
Hospitalizations in Summit County, meanwhile, edged up slightly, from 289 on Thursday to 302 on Monday. This is the breakdown of Monday's hospitalizations, with Thursday's number in parentheses: Western Reserve Hospital, 27(25); Akron General 115(115), Summa 148(140); Akron Children's 12(9).
Northeast Ohio currently has some of the highest COVID-19 case rates nationwide.
One Northeast Ohio man on the prowl for tests garnered more than 80,000 likes and nearly 10,000 shares onTikTok when he posted a short video abouthow he scored COVID test kits.
"I could not find a COVID test anywhere in Northeast Ohio," he said. "So I thought to myself, where am I going to find one...I looked at a map and was like, which county voted for Trump?"
The man, who goes byas AlexWheeler711 on TikTok, then holds up boxes of tests in a video as he drivesand says his theory worked because he found tests in a red county.
"Thank you, Medina," he says.
He doesn't say which store had the tests in the video, which he posted Saturday.
But by Sunday, theCVS drug store in Medina had posted signsSunday saying thatstore was sold out.
Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett can be reached at agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.
Dr. Payal Kohli said the symptoms of omicron may be different than those of the original virus strain.
COLORADO, USA As omicron spreads at a staggering speed, many of the top news stories are highlighting endless cancellations of sports games,showsandflightsin an effort to stop the spread of the new COVID variant.
These events have undoubtedly left many people questioning much of what they know about COVID-19 and what symptoms to look out for when it comes to omicron.
According to 9NEWS health expert, Dr. Payal Kohli, the symptoms of omicron may be different than those of the original virus strain.
"In particular, there is less cough, high fever and loss of taste or smell," she said.
Although there is still much to be learned about the new COVID variant, Kohli said that omicron symptoms may more mild than the initial strain which may give some people a false sense of security even when they do encounter symptoms.
The more prominent omicron symptoms are:
Now that the family gatherings are over, Kohli said the medical community is bracing for a surge in COVID-19 cases following family and friends gathering for the holidays.
"I have to say that the medical community is preparing for the worst because this variant is incredibly contagious more than any other variant we have seen," she said.
By the end of Christmas week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that variants will fuel a possible 55% spike in new infections and result in 1.3 million new cases.
Omicron also has a much shorter incubation period from the point of exposure.
"This is behaving very differently, and those three to five days that is stuck in everybodys head needs to shift up now, to more like two to three days just because of the incubation period being different," said Kohli. "Because its a shorter incubation period, you spread it more quickly without even realizing, so you need to test earlier in order to prevent the spread."
Kohli recommends the following for people that may experience omicron symptoms.
Although no deaths related to the new variant have been reported in Colorado, one unvaccinated man in his 50s has been reported to have died after being infected with the omicron variant in Texas.
Colorado COVID-19 data
Officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) gave an update on the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic last week and said that cases are trending up for the first time in weeks.
CDPHE State Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said the increase is likely being driven by the omicron variant. The percent positivity data also show an increase, with a current seven-day average positivity rate of 7.8%.
The state has detected key omicron signatures in all 21 wastewater systems that are participating in CDPHE's detection program. State labs have also seen a sharp increase in the percentage of positive PCR tests presenting the profile for the omicron variant, particularly since Dec. 10.
Herlihy said this data suggests that potentially half of all new cases detected in recent days could be caused by the omicron variant.
Isolation and quarantine
On Monday, CDPHE updated its guidance to match the new recommendations from CDC regarding COVID-19 isolation and quarantine.
The guidance reduces the recommended time in isolation for those in the general population with COVID-19 from 10 to five days, if asymptomatic on day five, followed by an additional five days wearing a mask when around others.
This change is based on data showing that the majority of COVID-19 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, according to CDPHE.
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