Delta and omicron keep COVID-19 infection rates high

Airlines around the world canceled thousands of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to tracking from FlightAware. Companies blamed the ongoing travel disruptions on a combination of winter weather and staffing shortages due to COVID-19 surges. In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian closed four museums on Tuesday, the same day the United States surpassed its record for new cases.  The nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned Wednesday against large New Year’s parties and recommended small gatherings as long as partygoers are vaccinated. Elsewhere, Greece’s health minister banned all music at public New Year’s Eve celebrations, and France’s health minister reported new cases there are doubling every two to three days.

How dangerous is the omicron wave? Fauci said Wednesday that preliminary data continue to suggest omicron causes less severe infection compared with the delta variant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened its recommended isolation period to five days, a decision Director Rochelle Walensky defended from critics on Wednesday. She said most coronavirus transmission happens within the first five days of infection. While new infections are at a record high of 265,000 daily cases on average, the hospitalization and death rates remain low compared with a year ago.

Dig deeper: Read Michael Reneau’s summary of pandemic news and notable events in 2021 in the latest issue of WORLD Magazine.