A healthcare worker performs a COVID-19 PCR test at a free testing site in Farragut Square on December 28, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | beautiful pictures
An outbreak of Covid-19 on a cruise ship in Lisbon. Thousands of flights were cancelled. Colleges are far away.
It’s a new year but Disease continues to cause many of the same major disruptions to American life that it has had for nearly two years now.
The most recent variation to blame is strain omicron, is highly transmissible and more likely to evade vaccine protection. According to an analysis of data by Johns Hopkins University, on an average of seven days, the number of daily new virus infections has reached 386,000, double the number of the previous week. Rates are likely to be even higher because there are reporting delays over the holidays and an increase in home testing that could keep cases out of the sights of officials.
The increase in new Covid-19 cases means that efforts by businesses and schools to resume normal operations after the holiday season are being halted once again.
Companies are pushing back their return to work days as cases peak, including Chevron, Apple, Google and Uber.
Dozens of universities have announced that they are moving classes online. Harvard University said it would aim to move most of its work and study remotely for at least the first three weeks of January.
“Know that we are not taking this step lightly,” Harvard officials Written in a letter to staff and students. “It was driven by a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases locally and nationally.”
Other schools that also made changes include University of Chicago, George Washington University and Columbia University. More universities will likely require students who have had their booster shots back in the spring, as breakout cases become more common.
Local school districts across the country are also reevaluating their plans. Some school districts are transitioning back to distance or blended learning, while others are trying to reduce children’s contact with each other by having students attend scheduled classes. modified, no lunch time.
Although New York City, the nation’s largest school district, has seen an explosion of Covid cases, the school system will reopen as scheduled on Monday. The district hopes to step up testing efforts to keep instruction in-person.
One concern is that people will return from vacations and visit family and friends during the holidays. Travel has also been monitored by the virus.
A cruise ship with more than 4,000 people on board has been halted in Lisbon, Portugal due to the Covid-19 outbreak among crew members, the AP reported on Saturday. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speak on Thursday that Americans should avoid cruises, regardless of their immunization status.
Meanwhile, by Saturday morning, more than 2,400 US flights was cancelled, follow to monitor the FlightAware service. Some disruptions are also due to winter storms.
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
