美国日均新冠肺炎病例和住院人数持续下降，这表明奥米克隆变种在全国的影响力正在减弱。
根据约翰霍普金斯大学的数据，周六报告的确诊病例总数勉强超过10万例，比五周前1月16日的约800，850例大幅下降。
在纽约，病例数量在过去两周内下降了50%以上。
布法罗大学雅各布医学和生物医学科学学院教授兼传染病主任托马斯·鲁索博士说:“我认为，影响下降的原因当然是奥米克龙开始没有人可以感染了。”
根据疾病控制和预防中心的COVID数据追踪器，新冠肺炎住院人数从1月20日的全国七天平均146，534人下降到2月13日结束的一周的80，185人。
公众健康专家们说，他们对未来会有更多的下降抱有希望，这个国家正在从疫情转变为一种更稳定、更可预测的“地方病”。然而，许多人表达了对美国疫苗接种率仍低于预期的担忧，这种担忧因新冠肺炎限制的取消而加剧。
范德比尔特大学医学院的威廉·沙夫纳博士周日表示，病例数量和住院人数的下降令人鼓舞。他同意这可能与群体免疫有很大关系。
“奥米克隆的硬币有两面，”他说。“糟糕的是，它会传染给很多人，让他们患上轻度疾病。好的一面是，它可以传播给很多人，让他们轻度患病，因为这样做，它产生了很多自然免疫力。”
然而，沙夫纳说，“举起完成任务的旗帜”还为时过早。作为公众健康他说，如果这种下跌再持续一两个月，他会更放心。
“如果我有一个担心，那就是取消干预和限制，可能会比让我感到舒服的热情和速度多一点，”他说。“我自己的小格言是，最好戴上一个月的面具，而不是过早摘下一个月的面具，然后突然又一次激增。”
许多州的官员正在减少限制，说他们正在远离治疗冠状病毒疫情认为这是一场公共卫生危机，转而转向以预防为主的政策。
在周五的新闻发布会上，犹他州州长斯潘塞·考克斯宣布，该州将从4月份开始过渡到他所说的“稳态”模式，犹他州将关闭大规模测试点，更频繁地报告新冠肺炎病例数，并建议居民做出个人选择，以管理感染病毒的风险。
“现在，让我明确一点，这不是COVID的结束，而是像对待其他季节性呼吸道病毒一样对待COVID的结束——或者说是开始,”这位共和党人说。
同样在周五，波士顿取消了该市的疫苗证明政策，该政策要求室内场所的顾客和工作人员出示疫苗接种证明。
“这一消息凸显了我们在抗击新冠肺炎方面取得的进展，这要归功于疫苗和加强剂，”波士顿市长吴弭通过推特表示。
纳什维尔初级保健医生艾米·戈登·博诺博士说，现在不是减少疫苗接种工作的时候，而是加倍努力的时候。她说，2021年春天，当疫苗变得更加容易获得时，美国“急于宣布COVID独立”。然后是三角洲和奥米克隆潮。
波诺在新奥尔良的杜兰大学医学院上学，他说美国应该像飓风季节一样对待COVID。
“你必须学会与COVID相处，你必须从中学习，”她说。
她说，一个挑战是每个地区都有独特的景观。例如，在美国南部，许多限制已经取消了一段时间，或者根本就不存在。然而，这也是一个疫苗接种率相对较低的地区。
“我们已经遭受了太多的痛苦，如果有一种方法可以帮助缓解未来的痛苦，那就是建立一个更多接种疫苗的社区，”她说。
在布法罗，鲁索说他看到了两种可能的未来结果。其一，美国经历了一个相当平静的春季和夏季，而免疫力仍然很强。他说，在这种情况下，免疫力可能会下降，在流感季节较冷的几个月里会出现新病例，但希望不会出现严重的激增。
在第二个案例中——与公共卫生专家有关——一种新的变种进化并避开了由omicron感染和疫苗接种建立起来的免疫墙。
"这种变异是否能够进化是个大问题，对吗?"他说。“这是我们必须解决的问题。Omicron是第一个这样的版本，有这样一句格言‘嗯，随着时间的推移，病毒进化得越来越弱’，但这不是真的。病毒进化到能够感染我们。”
US virus cases, hospitalizations continue steady decline
Average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the U.S., an indicator that the omicron variant’s hold is weakening across the country.
Total confirmed cases reported Saturday barely exceeded 100,000, a sharp downturn from around 800,850 five weeks ago on Jan. 16, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
In New York, the number of cases went down by more than 50% over the last two weeks.
“I think what’s influencing the decline, of course, is that omicron is starting to run out of people to infect,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and infectious disease chief at the University of Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are down from a national seven-day average of 146,534 on Jan. 20 to 80,185 the week ending in Feb 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID data tracker.
Publichealthexperts say they are feeling hopeful that more declines are ahead and that the country is shifting from being in a pandemic to an ‘endemic' that is more consistent and predictable. However, many expressed concern that vaccine uptick in the U.S. has still been below expectations, concerns that are exacerbated by the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine said Sunday that the downturn in case numbers and hospitalizations is encouraging. He agreed that it likely has a lot to do with herd immunity.
“There are two sides to omicron’s coin,” he said. “The bad thing is that it can spread to a lot of people and make them mildly ill. The good thing is it can spread to a lot of people and make them mildly ill, because in doing so, it has created a lot of natural immunity.”
However, Schaffner said it’s much too early to “raise the banner of mission accomplished.” As a publichealthexpert, he said he’ll be more comfortable if the decline sustains itself for another month or two.
“If I have a concern, it’s that taking off the interventions, the restrictions, may be happening with a bit more enthusiasm and speed than makes me comfortable,” he said. “My own little adage is, better to wear the mask for a month too long, than to take the mask off a month too soon and all of a sudden get another surge.”
Officials in many states are cutting back on restrictions, saying they are moving away from treating thecoronaviruspandemic as a public health crisis and instead shifting to policy focused on prevention.
During a Friday news conference, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced that the state would be transitioning into what he called a “steady state” model starting in April in which Utah will close mass testing sites, report COVID-19 case counts on a more infrequent basis and advise residents to make personal choices to manage the risk of contracting the virus.
“Now, let me be clear, this is not the end of COVID, but it is the end — or rather the beginning — of treating COVID as we do other seasonal respiratory viruses,” the Republican said.
Also on Friday, Boston lifted the city’s proof of vaccine policy, which required patrons and staff of indoor spaces to show proof of vaccination.
“This news highlights the progress we’ve made in our fight against Covid-19 thanks to vaccines & boosters,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said via Twitter.
Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a Nashville primary care physician, said now is not the time to lessen vaccination efforts, but to double down on them. In the spring of 2021 when vaccines were becoming more readily available, the U.S. was “eager to declare COVID independence,” she said. Then came the delta and omicron surges.
Bono, who attended medical school at Tulane University in New Orleans, said the U.S. should approach COVID like hurricane season.
“You have to learn to live with COVID and you have to learn from it,” she said.
One challenge is that each region has a unique landscape, she said. In the American South, for example, many restrictions have been lifted for a while or never existed in the first place. Yet it’s also a region with relatively lower vaccination rates.
“We’ve suffered so much and if there’s a way to help appease future suffering, it’s having a more vaccinated community,” she said.
In Buffalo, Russo said he sees two possible future outcomes. In one, the U.S. experiences a fairly quiet spring and summer while immunity is still strong. He said in that scenario, it’s likely immunity will wane and there will be a bump of new cases in the cooler months during flu season, but hopefully not a severe surge.
In the second — the one concerning public health experts — a new variant evolves and evades the immunity wall that was built up from both omicron infections and vaccinations.
“Whether such a variant can evolve is the big question, right?” he said. “That is the concern that we’ll have to see through. Omicron was the first version of that, and there is this sort of adage that ‘well, over time, viruses evolve to be less virulent,’ but that’s not really true. Viruses evolve to be able to infect us.”
