US Covid-19 seven-day case average tops 700,000

The Omicron variant has driven infection levels across America.

A medic at a testing centre in Houston takes a rest. Picture: AFP

The seven-day average for newly reported cases in the US topped 700,000 for the first time, data from Johns Hopkins University show, as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads throughout the country.

The average of known cases could soon triple the pre-­Omicron record set a year ago, when the US briefly had about a quarter million daily cases.

The numbers reported by state health departments and collected by Johns Hopkins also likely reflect a fraction of the true number, due in part to Omicron’s rapid spread and the difficulty many Americans have had getting tested. Some laboratories are limiting test-processing to certain people such as those with symptoms because of the surge in demand.

At least 40 states are at or near record case levels, data through to Saturday show.

Los Angeles County health officials said on Saturday that, over the past seven days, the county recorded more than 200,000 cases, the highest number in one week since the beginning of the pandemic.

The number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 doubled in one week to 3200, officials said. The county’s seven-day-average positivity rate was 20.4 per cent as of Saturday.

The seven-day average of newly reported US deaths has reached about 1600, Johns Hopkins data show, up from levels closer to 1250 early last week.

Some data catch-up after ­delays in reporting over the holidays may still be buffeting Covid-19 numbers, and public health experts believe it will take more time to see how the rapid climb in Omicron cases will translate into deaths.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ­defended the agency’s public guidance about Covid-19.

“This is hard,” she said on Fox News Sunday. “We have ever-evolving science with an ever-evolving variant, and my job is to provide updated guidance in the context of rapidly rising cases.

“ And that is what we’ve done, and I’m here to explain it to the American people, and I’m committed to continuing to do so and to continuing to improve.”

There is growing evidence suggesting Omicron is milder than other coronavirus variants that have fuelled the pandemic, driving beliefs it will prove less ­lethal, too. Some officials have said they have hope that Omicron will lead to a rapid crest in cases, given the extremely fast spread of infections racing through communities. In hard-hit New York City, there are signs the pace of the case surge may at least be easing.

Still, the wave in cases is putting significant pressure on hospitals in the state. New York’s state health department on Saturday said 40 hospitals there have been notified to stop non-urgent elective surgeries because they meet the state’s threshold for high-risk regions or low-­capacity facilities.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson told CNN on Sunday that large private employers shouldn’t comply with the Biden administration’s vaccine-and-testing rules.

Employers should wait until the Supreme Court decides whether regulations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration can be enforced, the Republican said.

The court held a session on Friday to hear arguments on the rules, which require employers to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested each week for the virus.

Employers, not the federal government, should determine a workplace policy, Mr Hutchinson said.

The Justice Department has said that OSHA has the authority from congress to ensure workers have safe and healthy working conditions.

The Wall Street Journal