Mitigation measures in the U.S. looked very different the last time so many COVID-19 cases were recorded.
May 29, 2022, 9:02 AMA student works on her name tag in a second and third grade combo class during the first day of school at Laguna Niguel Elementary School in Laguna Niguel, Calif., Aug. 17, 2021.Despite widespread vaccination and several available treatments, the U.S. is recordingnow at the tail end of the omicron peak as it was last summer during the delta surge.
Although the latest omicron subvariants appear to be even more transmissible than the original variant, a combination of vaccination, boosters and effective and readily available therapeutics appear to have muted the impact of severe disease."When we think about summer 2021, we were in a different place in many ways," Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News.
At the time, states with high transmissions were mostly in the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest, including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas.Through summer and fall 2021, some states were still imposing face coverings indoors including schools and even for the vaccinated; however, masks were also still required on public transportation, including in airports and on planes -- a measure that has since been lifted.
Currently, no cities have vaccine mandates in place restricting indoor activities and some states have banned requiring vaccination proof altogether. Ray continued, "You would think that we could, but we don't have an electronic system where people could display a QR code on their phone that shows that they have a verifiable vaccine history. Without technology like that, the system is not really in place logistically."Long after states had dropped their COVID-19 measures for domestic travelers in 2020, Hawaii kept its restrictions in place.
"We're at a very different point with other preventative measures," she told ABC News. "More people are eligible to get vaccinated and a number of populations are eligible for boosters."
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