| On Tuesday, the nation reached a seven-day average of 265,427 cases on Tuesday, surpassing a previous record of about 252,000 daily cases reported nearly a year ago on Jan. 11, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The new peak comes in the midst of a surge in the U.S. and across the world and experts say the omicron variant, which is the most contagious strain of the coronavirus yet, will continue to send case numbers climbing in 2022.
“January is going to be a really, really hard month. And people should just brace themselves for a month where lots of people are going to get infected,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
CNN medical analyst Jonathan Reiner said the U.S. could "see half a million cases a day — easy — sometime over the next week to 10 days."
Although most people who are vaccinated and boosted won't see severe symptoms, Jha said that may not be the case for the unvaccinated.
“A lot of people who have not gotten a vaccine are going to end up getting pretty sick, and it’s going to be pretty disruptive,” Jha said. “My hope is as we get into February and certainly by the time we get into March, infection numbers will come way down, and it’ll also start getting (into) spring, and the weather will start getting better. And that will also help.”
Aside from vaccinations and booster shots, Jha said people can take extra precautions to protect themselves in public.
“I would urge people to wear a higher quality mask any time they’re in a place with lots of people and they’re going to be indoors for any extended period of time,” Jha said.
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