While health experts are hopeful the surge may soon wane, the sheer volume of infections continues nationwide. Confirmed positive cases of Covid-19 have climbed to a daily average of 771,580 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University data, more than three times that of last winter's peak average.
Mitigating Covid-19 transmission remains paramount, and officials are working to overcome a shortage of Covid-19 rapid tests so that those who are asymptomatic can
know to quarantine.
In Nevada, state officials have ordered more than a half-million at-home antigen test kits that will be made available at no cost and will be distributed near the end of the month through "community partners" to be named later, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Thursday.
"This will ensure that, as we live with Covid, the supply chain does not dictate access for Nevadans," Sisolak said.
However, not all confirmed cases via rapid test are tracked and recorded, meaning the numbers of those with Covid-19 may be much higher.
The Omicron variant has become so widespread in Oregon, it is outpacing health leaders' ability to keep track of how many people are infected, they said.
"We know our daily case counts are missing many at-home test results, and in the face of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, case data is also missing many undiagnosed cases, as well," Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said in a briefing Thursday.
"To be completely transparent, we are likely approaching the maximum capacity our testing system has to identify cases."
Instead of interviewing people for contact tracing, health teams will turn their focusing to tracking outbreaks in high-risk settings, asking those with positive test results to report them to the state voluntarily through a website and hotline, Allen said.
"Hospitalizations and deaths will continue to represent our most reliable and significant metric," Allen said.