It is easily overlooked as the Ukraine crisis overtakes the Omicron wave crisis in the news cycle, but the U.S. is now averaging about 81,000 new cases per day, which is what the average was in late November, when we were just starting to hear about this new variant discovered in South Africa. Cases, hospitalizations, intensive care unit use, and deaths are all down dramatically over the past two weeks. There’s no sign that the BA.2 subvariant is changing the dynamics of the pandemic. Eight days ago, I wrote, “the Omicron wave is just about done.” Now… it’s done.
With the Omicron wave subsiding, there is little justification for restrictions like indoor mask mandates — and just about every state, with Democratic governors and Republican governors, has come to the same conclusion: “Forty-nine states have announced plans to drop their indoor mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations steadily decline across the country. The only holdout remains Hawaii.”