Nationally, hospitalizations are up slightly but still as low as any point in the pandemic.
FILE - A pedestrian removes a protective mask worn as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus in Philadelphia, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. People in Philadelphia could be excused if they felt a sense of whiplash Friday, April 22, 2022 as the city abandoned its indoor mask mandate just days after becoming the first big U.S. city to reimpose compulsory masking in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. – An increase in COVID-19 infections around the U.S.
In New York City, cases are again rising and this week crossed the city’s threshold for “medium risk,” indicating the widening spread of the subvariant knowns as BA.2 that has swept the state’s northern reaches. But there appears to be little appetite from Mayor Eric Adams to do an about face just a few months after allowing residents to shed masks and put away vaccination cards that were once required to enter restaurants and concert halls.
An abundance of at-home virus test kits has led to a steep undercount of COVID-19 cases that were once an important benchmark. Researchers estimate that more than 60% of the country was infected with the virus during the omicron surge, bringing high levels of protection on top of the tens of millions of vaccinations. Hospitalizations have increased but only slightly.
In Boston, even as COVID-19 cases began to tick up again, there’s been little drive to reimpose the indoor mask mandate city officials largely lifted two months ago. Boston still requires masks in schools and on school buses. A statewide mask mandate was lifted for schools at the end of February.