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The omicron wave is hitting nursing homes hard, with infections among residents and staff reaching record highs in recent weeks. There were more than 40,000 residents who tested positive last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost a 10-fold rise since November. Cases for staff hit a record high of more than 67,000 cases the first week of January, but started to decline last week. "What we've learned with the pandemic is that when there are large [numbers] of COVID cases in the general population, COVID finds its way into skilled nursing facilities," says Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of the industry group American Health Care Association. (Chatterjee, 1/20)

Unvaccinated adults aged 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unimmunized adults in that age group were also 17 times more likely to be admitted to hospital than those who had received either two shots of a mRNA vaccine or one Johnson & Johnson dose. Meanwhile, unvaccinated people between 50 and 64 years of age were 44 times more likely to need hospitalization compared with their boosted counterparts. (Jeong and Francis, 1/21)

Michigan’s health director on Thursday ordered nursing homes to offer on-site booster shots to residents who are not up to date on the COVID-19 vaccine in a state that lags others in vaccinating people in long-term care facilities. The facilities must comply within 30 days. Nearly 75% of eligible nursing home residents have received a booster dose. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in December set a goal of getting 95% of eligible nursing home residents a booster by the end of January. (Eggert, 1/20)

Hospitals in early Omicron hot spots like New York and Washington, D.C., say the pressure is starting to ease, with many reporting fewer Covid-19 patients filling beds and smaller numbers of staff sidelined by infections. While these improvements follow declines in new Covid-19 case counts in parts of the U.S., health authorities have warned Omicron has yet to peak nationally, and hospitals around the country remain under significant strain from Covid-19 patient counts still at record levels. (Kamp, 1/20)

As the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread, officials in several states across the country have reported the surge is showing signs of slowing. In New York, COVID-19 infection data released Wednesday showed the seven-day average of new hospital admissions down 18.4% from the previous week. The seven-day average of new cases is down 43.6% from the prior seven days and the seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people is "declining in all regions." (Musto, 1/20)

The latest wave of COVID-19 in Massachusetts has crested, with the number of new cases dropping precipitously since last week, prompting even the most wary prognosticators to see a flicker at the end of the tunnel. The data indicate the state is headed toward a respite, and the United States as a whole also will see cases decline, said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital. But he cautioned that “every expectation with this virus comes with a caveat because it’s always making us look silly.” Data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show the seven-day average of new cases is now 30 percent lower than the Jan. 11 peak. But even as the fast-spreading Omicron variant beats a fast retreat, experts are watching an Omicron sibling, dubbed BA.2, that is making inroads in parts of Europe and Israel. (Freyer, Lazar and Finucane, 1/20)

Massachusetts’ Department of Public Health on Thursday—for the first time—made a distinction between COVID-19 patients hospitalized with "primary" and "incidental" cases. Boston 25, citing the newly released data, reported that 49% of the state’s 3,187 patients-- hospitalized on Jan. 18--were there because of another matter and diagnosed with the virus once at the hospital. Medical officials in the state made clear that they have no intention of diminishing the "incidental" cases-- pointing out that they will still require special care--but they hope the numbers will better reflect the virus' impact on the community. (DeMarche, 1/21)

Justin Senior, CEO of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance, says he sees hope in recent conflicting coronavirus data. He says the numbers could indicate the highly contagious omicron variant is peaking and will start to decline. Across Central Florida, the positivity rate among new cases remains about 30%, indicating a high rate of community spread. Senior says the numbers are following a trend set by previous variants in that they rose fast and now are bouncing up and down. (Green, 1/20)

A Democratic senator on Thursday blasted lawmakers who test positive for COVID-19 and show up to work at the Capitol without isolating for five days or wearing masks. “Here we are three days into the 2022 legislative session and, frankly, we’re not off to a great start. We’re seeing legislators show up testing positive for COVID-19 and refusing to wear masks to keep the rest of us safe,” said Sen. Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, outside the Capitol building steps Thursday afternoon during a news conference on Senate and House Democrats’ legislative priorities. (Bojórquez, 1/20)