Just 40% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the average number of booster shots dispensed per day in the U.S. has plummeted.
Statewide hospitalizations due to COVID-19, which had fallen for four days in a row, rose to 3,204 on Monday, up from 3,137 the previous day.
The new U.S. study will include up to 1,420 volunteers ages 18 to 55 to test the updated omicron-based shots for use as a booster or for primary vaccinations.
One influential model projects that nearly all nations will be past the omicron wave by mid-March. Others predict a strong decline in U.S. infections by April, unless a new variant emerges that can sidestep the growing levels of immunity.
Statewide hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have fallen for four days in a row and are down more than 10% since hitting a pandemic peak on Jan. 13, the Indiana State Department of Health reported Monday.
The Indiana State Department of Health on Friday also reported 95 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the official pandemic death toll to 19,992. On a more positive note, statewide hospitalizations dropped by more than 100.
The study found vaccine effectiveness was best after three doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in preventing COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations rose from 3,492 on Tuesday to 3,506 on Wednesday, the second-highest mark of all time.
The executive committee of the courts issued an executive order Thursday, continuing all jury trials until after Jan. 28.
Between Dec. 29 and Jan. 10, approximately 8.8 million workers reported not working because they were sick with the coronavirus or caring for someone who was, according to data from the Census Bureau.
Every county in Indiana was colored red on Wednesday on the state’s advisory-level map. Red is the highest level on the four-color map.
The White House also announced Wednesday that it will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free at pharmacies and community health centers.
Case counts fueled by the highly contagious variant have started to level off in some parts of the country hit early by the latest wave, but the entire country is not moving at the same pace.
At points Tuesday, more than 750,000 people were accessing the website at the same time, according to public government tracking data, but it was not immediately known how many orders were placed.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations rose from 3,363 on Sunday to 3,460 on Monday.
Available at-home coronavirus tests might be less sensitive to the now-dominant omicron variant, especially early in an infection, leading to false negatives. But experts say better-performing tests are coming.
The state said 3,363 people were hospitalized because of COVID on Sunday, down from 3,462 on Friday. Hospitalizations hit a pandemic high of 3,519 on Thursday.
The contract is part of the U.S. government’s effort to double its procurement of rapid COVID-19 tests to be delivered for free to Americans through a forthcoming federal website.
The unpredictability of shipping, labor and the coronavirus itself have created an environment where owners are often left guessing about when products might arrive and how much they’ll cost.
Nursing homes reported a near-record of about 32,000 COVID-19 cases among residents in the week ending Jan. 9, an almost sevenfold increase from a month earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
