US Covid-19 deaths, hospitalisations 'comparatively' low despite Omicron surge, CDC director says

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations are comparatively low despite a surge in cases as the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday (Dec 29).

The current seven-day daily average of cases is up 60 per cent over the previous week to about 240,400 per day, she said.

The average daily hospitalisation rate for the same period is up 14 per cent to about 9,000 per day and deaths are down about 7 per cent at 1,100 per day, Dr Walensky told reporters at a White House briefing.

"In a few short weeks Omicron has rapidly increased across the country, and we expect will continue to circulate in the coming weeks. While cases have substantially increased from last week, hospitalisations and deaths remain comparatively low right now," she said.

Early US data suggests Omicron will have a lower hospitalisation-to-case ratio than the Delta variant, top US infectious disease Anthony Fauci said at the briefing, but Covid-19 vaccine boosters will be critical in tackling it.

"All indications point to a lesser severity of Omicron versus Delta," he said. "Boosters are critical in getting our approach to Omicron to be optimal."

Both Dr Fauci and Dr Walensky cautioned that data on deaths and hospitalisations tend to lag case data by two weeks.

Dr Fauci said it was possible a second booster shot might be needed, but that it was not possible to know without first determining the durability of the protection offered by an initial booster, for which there is currently no data.

"Before we start talking about a fourth shot, it will be very important for us to determine the durability of protection, particularly against severe disease for the third shot booster of an mRNA and the second shot of a J&J," he said.

"Right now we don't have that information. It is conceivable that in the future we might need an additional shot but right now we are hoping that we will get a greater degree of durability of protection from that booster shot."

The government expects a contract for 500 million antigen tests, promised by President Joe Biden, to help address the surge in cases to be complete late next week, said White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients.

"The Department of Defence and HHS are executing (this) on an accelerated timeline," he said.

Disease experts have questioned recent CDC guidance rules that halve the isolation period for asymptomatic coronavirus, saying they lack safeguards that could result in even more infections as the United States faces a record surge in cases.

Dr Walensky responded to critics by saying the CDC continues "to learn every single day about Omicron."