Page 1 - aruba-today-20220129

Saturday
January 29, 2022
T: 582-7800
www.arubatoday.com
facebook.com/arubatoday
instagram.com/arubatoday
Page 8
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
Omicron drives U.S. deaths higher than in fall's delta wave

By CARLA K. JOHNSON
Omicron, the highly con-
tagious coronavirus vari-
ant sweeping across the
country, is driving the daily
American death toll higher
than during last fall's delta
wave, with deaths likely to
keep rising for days or even
weeks.
The seven-day rolling av-
erage for daily new COV-
ID-19 deaths in the U.S. has
been climbing since mid-
November, reaching 2,267
on Thursday and surpassing
a September peak of 2,100
when delta was the domi-
nant variant.
Now omicron is estimated
to account for nearly all
the virus circulating in the
nation. And even though it
causes less severe disease
for most people, the fact
that it is more transmissible
means more people are
falling ill and dying.
"Omicron will push us over
a million deaths," said An-
drew Noymer, a public
health professor at the Uni- Jose Alfrtedo De la Cruz and his wife, Rogelia, self-test for COVID-19 at a No Cost COVID-19 Drive-Through event provided the
versity of California, Irvine. GUARDaHEART Foundation for the City of Whittier community and the surrounding areas at the Guirado Park in Whittier, Calif., on
"That will cause a lot of soul Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022.
searching. There will be a Associated Press
lot of discussion about what
we could have done dif- deaths were preventable." toll is now at the same level country was slowly coming a day.
ferently, how many of the The average daily death as last February, when the off its all-time high of 3,300 Continued on next page