COVID-19 wave might be start of "new normal" in U.S.: CNBC

NEW YORK, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Many experts say they are unable to predict the trajectory of the current COVID-19 wave in the United States, though the cases have steadily increased nationwide since the end of March and hospitalization and death rates remain low, reported CNBC on Saturday.

"Given the past two years of pandemic precedent, that's somewhat surprising -- and one indicator of many that the ongoing rise in cases is noticeably different than previous COVID surges. Some experts say it might even mark the beginning of the country's 'new normal,'" said the report.

Previous surges were caused by the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. This wave is powered predominantly by waning immunities, said David Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a physician with Baltimore Medical Services.

The immunity people gained by recovering from the Omicron wave in December and January is fading away, allowing Omicron and its subvariants "to make (their) rounds again," said Dowdy, noting that many Americans aren't taking particularly strict COVID-19 precautions anymore.

The country's seven-day rolling average of new daily cases was up to 109,032 as of Wednesday, while "that large number is likely a significant undercount, with many people now relying on at-home tests and not reporting their results, or eschewing COVID-19 tests entirely," said the report.