The number of confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 440,000, and experts: The epidemic in the United States has turned to a new stage

According to data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of new confirmed cases of new coronavirus in the United States reached 441278 on Tuesday (28th), a new single-day high.

The CDC statement said the current confirmed case data is incomplete because testing sites in many places are closed during the Christmas period, and states are still testing and counting the previous backlog of infections. Some experts pointed out that the current surge in reported cases is related to the high contagiousness of Omicron and the significant increase in Christmas holiday testing.

"I think what we're seeing is a lot of people going to test for holiday reunions, and there are cases of exposure, and the current [Omikejong] variant is infecting more people." David Wohl, a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina, said, "Perhaps, at some point in the future, we will no longer pay much attention to confirmed cases, and the focus will be on how many people need to be hospitalized after being infected." ”

White House policy has begun to shift?

When it comes to the fact that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States this year has exceeded last year,U.S. President Joe Biden and White House officials quickly pointed out that (despite the surge in confirmed cases) current hospitalization rates are still below the level of winter 2020.

"Because we have a large number of people who have been vaccinated and have been given booster injections, we haven't seen a surge in hospitalization rates to levels in March 2020 or this fall." The United States is making progress and the situation is improving. "However, we also know that cases are still surging and there are still tens of millions of people who have not been vaccinated, and as a result, we are also seeing an increase in hospitalization rates." ”

Asked "if the Biden administration has begun to shift the focus from confirmed cases to hospitalization rates," White House officials quoted Biden's statement from week.

"Because the spread of Omikeron is so easy, we've seen some fully vaccinated people also be infected, and probably a large number of people will be infected." There will be confirmed cases in every office, and even in the White House, there will be cases of fully vaccinated people infecting Omicron. However, none of these cases are likely to become severe. Biden said.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Monday retweeted a related report in the US media that the current hospitalization rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States is 70% lower than last September.

The inflection point that the United States has been waiting for has finally arrived?

There are also U.S. infectious disease experts who say that after a certain number of fully vaccinated people are still infected and develop mild diseases, the confirmed case data should not become the core reference data of the epidemic prevention policy.

"For two years, the infection led to hospitalization and then death, so when you see the infection you know what's going to happen next." Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said, "However, Omi kerong has changed this trend." From many perspectives, this is the inflection point we've been waiting for. ”

Jiha said the U.S. has moved to a new phase where people who have been vaccinated but are still infected can "heal and recover" after being infected. "Therefore, I don't think the confirmed infection rate should still be an important reference data." Still, Jiha said, local health officials need to track down people who aren't vaccinated, as these people often end up in hospitalization.

Another health expert said that the new wave of the current surge in confirmed cases is not equivalent to the peak stage of the epidemic when it first occurred.

"What we're seeing is that the current virus, while highly contagious, has weakened, especially if you've been vaccinated, and the consequence of the rapid spread of the virus is that it brings (herd) immunity." Dr Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease specialist at Mississauga Hospital in Canada, said: "A lot of people think we're back in March 2020, and that's far from the case. So, believe it or not, the current peak of the outbreak is a good thing, because COVID-19 will turn into a 'common disease'. ”