States in New England are reporting a steep increase in daily COVID-19 cases as the Omicron subvariant, BA.2, takes dominance. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey have seen COVID-19 cases jump more than 40% over the latest 14-day period, the New York Times reports.
Other states, including Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, have all seen greater than 10% increases in daily case counts, as well.
The 7-day average of new daily cases is 30,135, with 655 daily deaths, according to the Washington Post tracker. In the past week, new reported cases rose 1%, hospitalizations fell 8%, and deaths fell 16%.
Later this week, the advisory group for the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss COVID-19 vaccine boosters, variants, and issues related to vaccine composition.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows 65.6% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 77% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 45% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose. A second booster dose is now offered to all Americans age 50 and older.
Shanghai's lockdown continues
The ongoing lockdown in Shanghai, which includes 26 million residents, will continue past its scheduled ending time tomorrow morning, due to government review of the citywide testing results. The lockdown began on Mar 28.
Reuters also reports some Western diplomats are questioning officials in that city for separating COVID-positive children from parents.
China's cases continue to rise steadily, with 13,137 cases reported today, 11,771 of them asymptomatic. Nearly 73% of the asymptomatic cases are from Shanghai.
Hong Kong cases continue to decline, meanwhile, with only 3,138 case recorded today.
