Looks like We’re heading into what could be a tough winter. Canada and the United States currently has a 7-day average of about 94,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly all of which are the delta variant.
Case numbers have been increasing the past few weeks, including in places which has some of the highest vaccination rates in the country. Hospitals and caregivers are once again strained. The Pentagon sent medical teams to two major hospitals in Minnesota last month and another team was scheduled to arrive this week.
“Delta is not subsiding,” said Dr. Andre Kalil, an infectious-disease physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to the Associated Press. Earlier this week, Nebraska recorded its highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since last December.
Medical and public health experts are racing to prepare for what’s next: omicron.
Since Wednesday, cases of the omicron variant have been detected in Toronto, New York, California, Minnesota, Colorado and Hawaii.
The variant was first identified by researchers in South Africa late last month and already has the world scrambling. And on Thursday, Google announced it is indefinitely pushing back its Jan. 10 return-to-office plan globally amid growing concerns over the omicron variant and some resistance to company-mandated vaccinations.
It’s safe to say that after nearly 2 years, we know a fair bit about coronaviruses. At least, more than we did in December 2019. But what about the anatomy of a coronavirus?
The New York Times published beautifully illustrated and videos to explain the technical fundamentals in a way people without PhDs or medical degrees can understand. I an no expert, but this may help us better understand the next experts we hear on the nightly news
Thursday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that five cases of the omicron variant had been detected in the state. They included a 67-year-old, fully vaccinated woman in Suffolk County who recently traveled from South Africa, and four New York City residents. All cases are mild.
A second California case was also announced Thursday evening, in a fully vaccinated Los Angeles County resident who had returned from South Africa on Nov. 22, health officials said. The infection “is most likely travel-related,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said.
The detected cases illustrate the need to seek out testing based on travel history and symptoms, as well as the importance of sharing travel history with public health officials, health experts said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently advises that people who recently traveled internationally should get tested three to five days upon their return regardless of symptoms or vaccination status. NYC officials have also encouraged all attendees of the Anime NYC 2021 convention, estimated to be around 53,000, to get tested immediately and take precautions such as social distancing.
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Established nearly fifty years ago in the UK, the company whose scientific research, consulting and engineering expertise are solely dedicated to people and property risk management and the resilience of its client-owners. These owners, who share the belief that the majority of people & property loss is preventable, represent many of the world’s largest organizations, including one of every ten Fortune 1000 companies.
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