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The state’s top officials in the battle against COVID-19 on Wednesday reported that the vicious surge in the disease fueled by the omicron variant is slowing statewide and in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city. But even as record numbers of hospitalizations decline, authorities said health care resources are still stretched to the limit. “We are a long way from being out of the woods,” Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. (Tareen and O'Connor, 1/19)

The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations Wednesday. The latest peak and record high of 2,278 patients was on Jan. 12. Since then, the number of people hospitalized has declined to 2,163 patients. In addition, since the peak and record high of 488 intensive care patients, the number of patients in the intensive care unit decreased to 459 patients. Also on Wednesday, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene reported that the omicron variant was found in 100% of tests sequenced during the week starting Jan. 10. (Bentley, 1/19)

COVID-19 cases and deaths are declining in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, prompting health officials in the region to express cautious optimism that the worst of the omicron surge may be over. In Philadelphia and its four neighboring Pennsylvania counties, hospitalizations are declining too, and city hospitals are beginning to feel relief from the press of COVID-19 patients that has swamped them in recent weeks. (Laughlin, McCarthy and McDaniel, 1/19)

The sewage data reveal an Omicron wave that is cresting at different times in different places. According to Biobot Analytics, a company tracking the coronavirus in wastewater in 183 communities across 25 states, viral levels have already begun to decline in many big cities but are still rising in smaller communities. (Anthes and Imbler, 1/19)

And Walgreens has started its own tracking tool —

Walgreens has a new prescription for improving COVID-19 reconnaissance and tracking of the dominant omicron variant: its own Walgreens COVID-19 Index. The new tracking tool, which the pharmacy chain launches Wednesday, will reflect results at 5,000 Walgreens locations across the U.S. and provide national and state-by-state updates of the spread of omicron and other variants. In addition to tracking confirmed COVID cases by state, the COVID-19 Index will also reflect the presumed percentage of omicron cases by state, in near real-time. A fraction of the PCR tests taken at Walgreens locations and processed by Aegis Sciences Corp., will check for a specific genetic marker associated with omicron and have that data updated into the index within 24 to 48 hours. (Snider, 1/19)

In more news about omicron —

A new poll shows Americans' fears about COVID-19 are up as cases skyrocketed in January, prompting most Americans to avoid large crowds even as masking and vaccine rates remain mostly stagnant. Gallup, a global analytics and advice firm well known for its polling, released the results of its latest poll Thursday morning. The firm has regularly polled Americans on their level of concern related to the coronavirus pandemic. The latest poll of 1,569 U.S. adults, conducted online Jan. 3 through 14, found a steep rise in the percentage of Americans who said the pandemic is "getting worse," as compared to fall 2021 data. (Thornton, 1/20)

Many public health officials have taken heart in early evidence that suggests infections from the Omicron variant tend to cause less severe illness than other versions of the coronavirus. But another important question looms: whether infection with Omicron, including breakthrough cases in vaccinated people, can result in long Covid — the constellation of physical, neurological and cognitive symptoms that can last for months and impair people’s daily lives. It is too early for scientists to know much about the relationship between Omicron, vaccination and long Covid. (Belluck, 1/19)

The omicron variant may be more dangerous for children than earlier coronavirus strains, a study of hospitalization data from one of South Africa’s biggest medical insurance programs showed. Data from the 56,164 Covid-19-related hospital admissions among the more than 2 million beneficiaries of the Government Employees Medical Scheme found that the admission rate for children under the age of four was 49% higher during the omicron wave than for delta. It was also higher than during the infection surges driven by the original virus and the beta variant, according to the data analyzed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. (Sguazzin, 1/19)

Given the near constant emergence of new permutations of COVID and the rise of the Omicron variant of the virus, a Duke clinician says he sticks to verifiable, often common-sense paths during conversations with people such as his own grandparents, who are in their 90s and living in long-term care. As with almost every factor since the pandemic started, the best guidance and information can be – and has been – transformed as new science and variants arise. Thomas Holland, a specialist in infectious disease at Duke University Medical Center, says that means it can be difficult to settle on hard and fast rules that people might prefer. (Goldsmith, 1/20)