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Prognosis

Cases Rise ‘Through the Roof’ as Omicron Sweeps Across U.S.

  • Peak could reach one million infections per day by mid-January
  • Rapid spread threatens to hamper essential services for weeks
Residents wait in line to receive a Covid-19 test at a Philadelphia Department of Public Health mobile testing site in Philadelphia, on Dec. 30.

Residents wait in line to receive a Covid-19 test at a Philadelphia Department of Public Health mobile testing site in Philadelphia, on Dec. 30.

Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg

In Boston, coronavirus levels measured in wastewater are spiking to more than quadruple last winter’s surge. In Miami, more than a quarter of people are testing positive for Covid. And a San Francisco medical leader estimates that, based on his hospital’s tests, one of every 12 people in the city with no Covid symptoms actually has the virus.

As the omicron variant sweeps the country, daily cases are reaching unheard-of levels, crossing the half-million mark, and are only expected to go much higher.