Vaccines Return to Focus as Omicron Wave Proves Milder

Daily reported cases have soared, but hospitalizations and deaths have not, breaking with past surges. In the U.S., the wave is disrupting the return to schools after the New Year’s holiday.

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With growing evidence that the Omicron variant produces less severe illness than in earlier waves, governments are redoubling their focus on vaccinations and boosters, which are increasingly seen as the world’s ticket to “living with Covid.”

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, said on Sunday that hospitalizations, which are not rising as fast, were a more important barometer than reported cases for the severity of the Omicron wave, a sharp distinction after nearly two years of tallying daily case counts.

“...it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases,” Dr. Fauci said.

Still, the case numbers remain staggering. The world is recording an average of nearly 1.5 million new cases every day...

... In the United States, experts forecast that the Omicron wave could crest in mid-January...

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...[Over the holidays] with many government offices closed, testing and case data were not being compiled as regularly, leaving officials and experts, at least temporarily, with an incomplete picture of how bad things were getting.

Bugs me, really bugs me. Why aren't there "duty" employees, around the clock? Even the criminal court systems do that on holidays.