In just eight weeks, the Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 has gone from a blip in the number of cases in the United States to the dominant version of the coronavirus in the country, now making up more than three-quarters of new cases. Perhaps the most transmissible subvariant to date, BA.5 is driving an increase in positive tests, hospitalizations and intensive care admissions across the country.
As of Wednesday, an average of about 127,700 known coronavirus cases and 426 deaths were reported in the United States each day, according to a DailyExpertNews database, a marked increase from early July.
Known infections are on the rise in at least 40 states, especially in the Great Plains, West and South. Hospital admissions have risen 19 percent in the past two weeks, and there are now an average of more than 41,800 people in U.S. hospitals with the coronavirus in one day.
The popularity of home testing means that reported cases are now even more of an undercount of the true infection rate than in previous waves of the pandemic. The proportion of all tests that come back positive is also rising faster. Federal data shows that the risk of contracting the virus is increasing in much of the country.
The CDC’s assessment of community risk levels last week, using a hospitalization-based measure, places about 35 percent of U.S. counties in the “high risk” category, but those counties are home to about 55 percent of the U.S. population.
In such high-risk areas, the agency recommends wearing masks in indoor public settings. But there are currently no statewide universal mandates in effect.
President Biden’s coronavirus response team warned Americans last week that they must do more to protect themselves from Covid-19.
Still, many Americans have turned their attention away from the pandemic and many health officials have become more hesitant to sound the alarm.
