Over the last week, new reported COVID-19 cases increased by 20% worldwide, from almost 2.5 million/day (on a 7-day average) on Jan. 10 to almost 3 million/day worldwide on Jan. 17. One hopeful development is that the United Kingdom, a persistent driver for several months, finally retreated somewhat last week, dropping from 141,400 to 106,000/day. Even though this is still a massive level—the equivalent of over 500,000/day in America—it is one modest piece of evidence for those hoping the United States might peak in one-to-three weeks.
Otherwise, France, the United States and Argentina, with several weeks of aggressive growth, slowed down to modest growth of around of 10-30%, respectively; while Omicron is making its presence known in sharper rises in Russia (16,000 daily infections to 21,600), India (122,100 to 238,900), Brazil (33,100 to 69,400), Colombia (21,900 to 30,400) and Mexico (19,300 to 34,700). With 806,900 cases/day, the United States is having to deal with work shortages across the board.
Hospitalizations in America are now setting historic records (beyond January 2021) with over 144,000 as of Jan. 14. However, while that is real stress on hospitals, the number includes patients admitted for non-COVID reasons, who then tested positive for COVID. That said, COVID-19 patients in ICUs, a telling measure as to the real effect of Omicron, are up 50% since Dec. 26. At the current net increase of 400-500/day, the present 24,700 level will climb to the historic high (around 28,500) in 8-10 days. COVID-19 deaths worldwide have risen by 12%, and in the United States by about 20%.
