The daily average of new coronavirus cases in the United States rose 1 percent on Friday as BA.2, the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, continued its rapid spread. It was the first rebound after weeks of recovery from the Omicron-fueled winter wave.
The increase in the average number of cases continued for a second day. On Saturday night, there were an average of about 30,700 cases reported per day in the United States over the past week, a 2 percent increase from two weeks ago, according to a DailyExpertNews tracker. That number is almost certainly an undercount, as many asymptomatic cases go undetected and the results of the widely used home tests often don’t make it into the official counts.
Caseloads have stopped declining rapidly in the United States and have begun to rise in recent days in states such as Alaska, Colorado, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York. Cases have doubled in Washington, DC, and are up about 60 percent in New York City since the last week of March. But Friday and Saturday’s numbers were the first signs of a nationwide rise.
Experts have warned that another wave could be coming in the weeks since BA.2 began sweeping across Europe, where previous virus waves have been harbingers of what’s to come in the United States.
A number of high-profile coronavirus cases have been reported in recent days, including dozens related to a Saturday dinner attended by many of Washington’s elite. Among those who have publicly announced being infected with the virus after attending the dinner are Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; Attorney General Merrick B. Garland; Valerie Biden Owens, the president’s sister; and Representative Adam B. Schiff of California. And several Broadway shows canceled performances after their stars, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Daniel Craig, tested positive.
Nationally, lagging indicators of hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall. Newly reported deaths are down 29 percent, to an average of about 565 deaths per day, while hospitalizations are down 20 percent to about 15,100 per day.
However, five states have reported an increase in hospitalizations in the past two weeks, although the raw numbers remain relatively low. Hospital admissions in Vermont are up 54 percent, to an average of 27 per day; New Hampshire, 24 percent, to 40; Connecticut, 20 percent, to 167; Maine, 12 percent, to 121; and Delaware, 10 percent, to 113.