This winter’s COVID-19 surge in the U.S. appears to be fading without hitting nearly as hard as many had feared.
“I think the worst of the winter resurgence is over,” says Dr. David Rubin, who’s been tracking the pandemic at the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
No one expected this winter’s surge to be as bad as the last two. But both the flu and RSV came roaring back really early this fall. At the same time, the most contagious omicron subvariant yet took off just as the holidays arrived in late 2022. And most people were acting like the pandemic was over, which allowed all three viruses to spread quickly.
So there were big fears of hospitals getting completely overwhelmed again, with many people getting seriously ill and dying.
But that’s not what happened.
This winter's U.S. COVID surge is fading fast, likely thanks to a 'wall' of immunity https://t.co/v9MVp6JWP0
— NPR Health News (@NPRHealth) February 3, 2023