Reinforcing just how lucky we are that Omicron is mostly mild, the World Health Organization says the variant is on track to infect more than half of all Europeans. The organization added they don’t think it should be viewed as a flu-like endemic illness yet either. The acting head of the FDA said most Americans will get COVID.

Quebec is going to start charging adults who won’t get vaccinated a financial penalty. That’s the first time a government in Canada has taken this step. The amount of the penalty hasn’t been decided yet, but it’s said it will be “significant.” They aren’t calling it a fine, they’re calling it a “health contribution.”

There might be something to that ventilation argument to fight COVID. Some researchers in the U.K. found the airborne infectivity rate goes down fairly quickly after being released into the air. 50 to 60% within seconds, and after 10 minutes, only 10% of the virus remained infectious. They say as the viral particles leave our wet, carbon dioxide-rich lungs, they dry out, and the loss of carbon dioxide increases the pH dropping infectivity. 

And a new study by Japanese researchers shows peak viral loads in people infected with Omicron, and thus the peak of contagiousness, happens 3 to 6 days after the onset of symptoms. This adds fuel to the criticism fire against the CDC’s revised recommendation that self-isolation time should be 5 days, not 10. In the testing, viral levels were still fairly high in almost all patients between 7 and 9 days.

The TSA is reporting 3,694 employees with active Covid infections. That’s about 7% of total screeners. The week before Omicron was first identified in the US, there were 275 cases. The surge in cases at the agency is a 1,243% increase since Thanksgiving. Over 96% of TSA employees are currently fully vaccinated. 

In the United States, cases were up 204%, deaths are up 36%, and hospitalizations are up 83% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since December 14.  

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Indiana, Delaware, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania.

There are now over 19 million active cases in the United States, at 19,885,128.

The five areas with the greatest increase in hospitalizations per capita: The U.S. Virgin Islands 836%. Puerto Rico 389%, Louisiana 341%. Florida 278%. And Washington, DC 195%.  

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Teton, WY. Miami-Dade, FL. Pitkin, CO. New York City, NY. Summit, UT. Passaic, NJ. Nantucket, MA. Cass, IL. Hampden, MA. And Nassau, NY. 

There have been at least 842,139 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 78.2%, Rhode Island at 77.3%, and Maine at 76.4%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Wyoming at 47.9%, Alabama at 48.1%, and Mississippi at 48.8%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 62.6%.

Globally, cases were up 177% and deaths up 3% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since October 15. 

There are now over 46 million active cases around the world, at 46,919,390.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 672,872. France 368,149. Italy 220,532. India 185,112. And Spain 134,942. 

There have now been over five and a half million deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide, at 5,503,822. 

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