They found the U.S. may see a total of about 140 million new infections between Jan. 1 to March 1, 2022, peaking in late-January at about 2.8 million new daily infections.
“We are expecting an enormous surge in infections ... so, an enormous spread of omicron,” IHME director Dr. Chris Murray said Wednesday. “Total infections in the U.S. we forecast are going from about 40% of the U.S. having been infected so far, to having in the next 2 to 3 months, 60% of the U.S.e getting infected with omicron.”
Meanwhile, as the omicron variant sweeps the nation, FL Governor Ron DeSantis and his republican allies in the Florida Legislature have robbed the state of one its best defenses against stopping or slowing the spread of the virus – masks mandates.
Indoor mask mandates serve two related functions. First, masks protect others from spread of respiratory infections, including COVIF-19. Since so many people with COVID-19 infection have mild or no symptoms, masking must be universal to be effective. Masking is much more useful than temperature screening, for example, which only identifies people with fever (whether or not it’s due to COVID-19.) But masks, for the person wearing one, also reduce the probability that if they are exposed to COVID-19, they will have a serious case. This is because wearing a mask reduces the dose of virus, what physicians call the inoculum, making it more likely you will have a mild case.
As the omicron variant continues to spread throughout the world, new modeling data shows the latest strain may cause millions more new infections per day in the U.S. but fewer hospitalizations and deaths compared to the delta variant.
DeSantis’ disregard for science leaves millions of Floridians vulnerable and in harms way as the state approaches a new daily record in infections.