Missouri numbers show signs of leveling as some areas of U.S. pass omicron’s peak
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The omicron wave appears to have reached its peak in some areas of the country that were hit first by the more transmissible coronavirus variant.
Only time will tell whether Missouri is among them.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN this week that new case numbers appear to be plateauing or going down in New York and the Northeast, which started seeing the omicron wave before other parts of the country.
Cases in Missouri appear to have leveled off some in the past week, with the daily average hovering between 8,000 and 9,000 during that stretch. Deaths have been on a solid downward trend statewide. The state health department reports that new cases are down 1% over the past week compared to the week before.
"You know we're seeing tons of cases but they're not as ill now and yet at the same time... there are enough people not vaccinated.. that we are really putting a lot of patients in the hospital still and putting that strain on the health system", Internal Medicine Specialist for Boone Hospital, Dr. Robin Blount said.
In that time, some Central Missouri counties have vaulted to the top of the list for most cases per capita. Boone, Cole and Callaway counties are Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in that metric, respectively. The daily average of new cases has declined in Boone County but remains elevated.
However, hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Missouri reached a new high at more than 3,500 on Saturday, illustrating the delay between new cases and hospitalizations.
Missouri has been one of many states riding the omicron wave to record case numbers. The state has broken records for new cases and hospitalizations multiple times this month. But early indicators are that the surge is starting to subside in places where omicron has run rampant. Experts caution against Americans getting too complacent, though.
Dr. Blount said hospitalizations are up in Boone Hospital so much that they had to delay elective surgery such as knee and hip replacements to make room for Covid patients.
"Their necessary surgeries...these patients need them... but we've had to delay them... there not canceled. There delayed. until we have the space and the staff again.
White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Monday that the omicron variant might mark the end of COVID-19's pandemic phase unless another scenario occurs. Although it's still too early to tell, Fauci said, "That would only be the case if we don't get another variant that eludes the immune response to the prior variant."
Fauci and other experts see COVID-19 becoming endemic, meaning Covid still does have a constant presence in the population but it does not affect a large number of people nor does it disrupt society.
