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Later today we should get the latest CDC Nowcast estimates of COVID BA.2's prevalence in the United States, but it is safe to assume it has continued its march towards total dominance. While testing has declined across the nation - making comparisons to previous numbers difficult - we are seeing subtle signs that COVID may once again be on the increase in the United States.
The CDC's Wastewater surveillance program (see below) suggests that virus detection is increasing across the country.
Yesterday, the county of Los Angeles, CA reported a 23% increase in cases over the previous week (see Coronavirus cases on the rise in L.A. County, prompting calls for spring break caution), while the city of Philadelphia, PA announced the reinstatement of public mask wearing policy due to rising cases.
City Provides Update on COVID-19 for Monday, April 11, 2022
For immediate release: April 11, 2022 Published by: Board of Health, Managing Director’s Office, Department of Public Health, Office of the Mayor, Office of Emergency Management Contact: Mayor's Office of Communications press@phila.gov
PHILADELPHIA – Due to rising case counts, the City of Philadelphia is moving to Level 2: Mask Precautions. This means masks are required in indoor public places; there is no vaccine requirement for places that serve food or drink. Masks will be required beginning Monday, April 18 after a one-week education period. The criteria and mandates for each COVID-19 response level are listed online. A recording of today’s Health Department briefing about this change is available on YouTube.
“Philadelphia’s COVID-19 response levels allow us to be clear, transparent and predictable in our response to local COVID-19 conditions,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “Given the recent rise in cases, we are moving to Level 2 in hopes of preventing higher case rates and stricter measures. Our city remains open; we can still go about our daily lives and visit the people and places we love while masking in indoor public spaces. I’m optimistic that this step will help us control the case rate.”
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health today reported an additional 20,576 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Monday, April 4. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 1,057,086, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to at least 1,277,057. Currently, 76.9 percent of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 94.7 percent of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
All Philadelphia residents ages five and older are eligible to be vaccinated in Philadelphia. 35.7 percent of 5-to-11-year-olds in Philadelphia have received at least one vaccine dose. Among eligible Philadelphians ages 12 and older, 76 percent are fully vaccinated, and 93.6 percent have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The Department of Health reports 46 patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in Philadelphia hospitals, with a total of 6 on ventilators.
In the last two weeks, 4.5 percent of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive. Thus far during the pandemic, 278,407 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 5,007 have succumbed to the virus. Philadelphia is averaging 142 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the last two weeks.
Although it is far from clear how much of an impact BA.2 will have on the rates of COVID infection across the nation, the extreme transmissibility of Omicron (see Close Encounters Of The COVID Kind) makes it likely that we'll see other cities follow Philadelphia's lead in the weeks and months ahead.
While we keep hoping that COVID will ease into an `endemic' phase, BA.2 is the 3rd new COVID variant to reach dominance in the United States in the past 4 months (B.1.1.529, BA.1.1 and BA.2), and we are currently watching a half dozen `new' emerging variants around the globe.
As long as COVID keeps churning out new, biologically `fit' variants, tantalizing lulls in COVID activity are likely to be temporary respites.
