550 Americans are dying with Covid each day - but that's still three TIMES ... trends now
More than 550 Americans are dying from Covid across the US as the virus makes a minor comeback after months of plateauing rates.
Latest official data shows there were 558 fatalities every day in the week ending January 11 — up 44 percent in a week. But experts are not panicked over the relatively sharp rise, saying it is likely down to 'backfilling' deaths that were not registered over the vacation period.
They also point out that the current figure is three times lower than at the same time last year (1,900) and a far cry from the more than 3,000 daily deaths at the peak in January 2021.
As Covid deaths rise in the US, the flu and RSV waves continue to subside after the respiratory viruses struck earlier than usual this year - a trend blamed on a lack of immunity after years of lockdowns and other restrictions.
Latest official data shows there were 558 fatalities every day in the week ending January 11 — up 44 percent in a week. But experts are not panicked over the relatively sharp rise, saying it is likely down to 'backfilling' deaths that were not registered over the vacation period
But experts say the fact numbers are less than half the levels for the same time last year is a testament to the effectiveness of vaccines, boosters and antivirals.
Shown America's Covid death tally Dr Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University said it might be due to a delay in reporting deaths over Christmas and New Year, when families began mixing again on a scale .
He said: 'You can get effects from delayed reporting and the holidays.
'The current data is backfilled, so recent reporting is incomplete, suggesting that while numbers are up they are not astronomically so.'
Dr Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia in the UK, agreed, suggesting it could also be down to this lag.
'Whenever I see a sudden and unexpected change in any surveillance data, my first question is always, "could this be an artifact?",' he told DailyMail.com.
'Artifacts are more common around holiday periods.
The above graph shows weekly Covid cases recorded in the US. They fell by 13 percent in the latest week that data is available for compared to the previous seven-day spell
The above graph shows the number of Covid tests being completed per day. Figures are now at their lowest levels since the pandemic began
Above is hospitalizations with Covid in the US. Like cases figures, these are also trending downwards dropping by about 12 percent in a week
'Possible explanations include: [The current tally] is due to a backlog of late reported deaths over the holiday period finally being reported.'
Concerns have also been raised that the uptick in deaths could be down to the new Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 — which is more infectious than other variants.
The mutant strain is now behind two in five infections in the US and accounts for the vast majority of infections in the North East — in states including New York, Connecticut and Maine.
But Dr
